Foo - Santa, do you remember...

...when and how you stopped believing in the big guy in the red suit? I think my parents told me sometime when I was in Grade school.
I don't remember being terribly shocked. It was getting harder to reconcile the Santa myth with logic. ;)

My somewhat sheltered daughter is still a believer at 11 and I've been debating whether its time to break the news.
I think in some ways she has probably figured it out, but has decided it's a good conspiracy to go along with. :)

I believed and wasn't told by my parents until I was 11 or 12. I called my mom a liar when she told me.

BTW....Xmas is over 3 weeks away. Why are we talking about it? Too soon.

Dear Editor:
I am 8 years old. Some of my friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says "If you see it in The Sun it's so." Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia,

Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they aboundand give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Calus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faiththen, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.

No Santa Claus! Thank God, he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

The New York Sun, September 21 1897



I still believe ... how can one not?

My mom never let me believe in Santa. Thanks for bringing that up. :notamused:

There is too a Santa.
Grandma's still laying out in the snow with reindeer hoof marks and a sled track across her back. Me and Grandpa saw it!

UA, what's stopping you now from believing??

UA, what's stopping you now from believing??
I'm a skeptical person. :P

I believe in Santa.
My 6 y/o grandson saw him at the mall.

I'm a skeptical person. :P

Well, stop that now.

It's just a matter of believing in the magic that is in our lives. Love, forgiveness, tolerance, family, friends ... all that is a part of our lives. There may not be a fat, jolly man involved but Santa
Claus to me exists in all those things and more. That is all. :)

I have always believed. And always will.

Sadly I quit believing in him at 5 or 6. I can't remember why though - prob caught my parents putting out the gifts :).

BTW....Xmas is over 3 weeks away. Why are we talking about it? Too soon.

Just thinking about it.

Besides I know for you it can never be too soon for Xmas. :rolleyes:

I had 2 older siblings who took care to disillusion me at the earliest opportunity. I do recall being very suspicious about how he could be in THIS department store when I had just been to visit him at THAT department store only a few minutes earlier.

And he never did bring me a train set. Something about 'naughty or nice', I'm not sure of the details. Still, I got the last laugh by going out and buying one for myself. Me - 1 : Santa - 0

My daughter 7 started telling us last year Santa wasn't real, we told her when you stop believing in santa he won't bring anymore gifts...LOL so she goes along with the whole thing now, but knows santa isn't real. We overhear her doing her best to "ruin" the whole thing for little brother 5. LOL..

Would you believe there's always a yearly debate over at DU about the big "lie"....WTFE people get a life.

I was pretty young... my parents worked alot and this Santa thing was annoying. I think my mom told me at 3 or 4 to get over it, there is no Santa. I have been cynical since then.

I don't remember what age I was, but I remember being pretty upset that my parents lied to me.

Must've sucked to be Virginia O'Hanlon a few years later, realising that not only did her parents lie to her, but that even the newspapers are untrustworthy.

but that even the newspapers are untrustworthy.
Oh, I dunno. I think the earlier that lesson is learned, the better. :)

My parents told me early on that there was no Santa Claus which was good news for me. I was deathly scared of him! I was told that he knew who was naughty and who was nice!:twitchy: Then one day the nuns in kindergarden told me that Santa was the friend of baby Jebus. I was determined to stay away from him. That weekend i go into the grocery store with my parents and who was sitting there with a line of kids before him?! I ran out of that store!
Ernest

My parents told me early on that there was no Santa Claus which was good news for me. I was deathly scared of him!
Don't talk to strangers. Don't take candy from strangers. Don't let men you don't know touch that. You hear that kids? Oh, but go and sit on this stranger's lap and he'll give you a present.


Here's some kids who aren't buying it. Enjoy.
http://www.toptenz.net/scared-of-santa-top-10-ways-not-to-visit-santa.php

[QUOTE=Holly;10095568]Dear Editor:
I am 8 years old. Some of my friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says "If you see it in The Sun it's so." Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia,

Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they aboundand give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Calus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faiththen, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.

No Santa Claus! Thank God, he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

The New York Sun, September 21 1897



What a liar! ;0)

...what?!

I don't know when i quit believing, but I remember when I did believe, and it was really a great thing. I remember getting pissed one xmas when everyone was staying up late. I thought they were going to scare away Santa.

You mean there isn't....? No! you're liars!

Okay okay. My friend in 3rd grade told me that he died.

My first death experience.

Now that I think about it, that was pretty messed up.

I think it was when I was around 5 or 6 when I sent my parents the following letter:
"I love you mom, I love you dad, Christmas is coming!"

I was pretty young, 3 or 4, and my dad dressed up like Santa to give presents to the neighborhood kids. The parents would put the presents on the back porch, my dad would take the presents, knock on the door, and deliver the presents to the children. Afterwards, he was standing in the kitchen still dressed in his santa suit talking with my mom and I walked in. I was pretty shocked.

hehe - I think I was probably about 10 yrs old (had 3 younger siblings who were believers), but it didn't happen at Christmas time ---- rather Easter because I wrote a letter to the Easter Bunny asking for a pet rabbit. And the Easter Bunny wrote back explaining why I couldn't have a pet rabbit that year and ... HEY WAIT A MINUTE - that's Mom's handwriting!!! So I accused Mom of interfering with me and the Easter Bunny ... and so I got the whole story ..... :)

btw....xmas is over 3 weeks away. Why are we talking about it? Too soon.

+1

I was allowed to believe in the man in the suit but not the mythical nature of the Clause. My parents were wayward agnostics who eventually settled into Christianity long after I left home. No I have really weird conversations when I go home.