When did you first learn that Santa Claus was

[Blue_Roses]

just a big ol' jolly "fun" guy? See, I can't even bring myself to say it. My six-year-old asked me the big question the other day and I was stooped on how to answer. "Is Santa Claus really real," she asked." My response, "he's magical and lives as long as we believe in hope...sure he is...*sigh*"

Damn, nobody ever told me that being a parent would be this hard!

And by the way, I still LOVE the big fat guy....40 years later.

[onebigbadwulf]

1. wait...

oh no :cry:

[shockingelk]

2. I always knew it was a tale

Or so my parents say. We open gifts on Christmas eve, which may have been the big tip-off.

However, I do remember my parents telling my brother that Oregon was above California and Washington was above Oregon, and I knew we lived in California, and recall looking at the clouds, imagining what Oregon and Washington must be like ...

[msanger]

3. I don't understand your question

Of course he's real.

I'm a buddhist, and when pretty enlightened teachers come to town, students often ask them if the deities are real.

The teachers often say something like "Of course they are aren't real."

the student is shocked.

The teacher then says; "They arent' any more real than you are!"

[Blue_Roses]

4. LOL!

thanks...I needed that believe it or not. My heart is breaking... I love the big guy!

[ET Awful]

5. From the New York Sun 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little 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 abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external 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 you 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. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.


this is now in the public domain mods, so no worries :) :) :)
For the story leading up to the letter, you can do a Google search for about a million sites :).

[Padraig18]

6. I was 8.

I was heartbroken until my daddy explained to me that Santa was real, even though he wasn't a real person, because he represented the spirit of Christmas. :)

[Killarney]

7. at about 7 or 8

[Maeve]

8. For me, he was alway both real and "fun"

He wasn't the center of Christmas and we learned to "play Santa" for others early on...

When kids ask me if my stories are "real", I tell them they are as real as any tales they're going to hear. Is Red Riding Hood real? No. Okay, does that mean it's okay to talk to strange wolves? NO! The point behind the tale is more important than the historical reality of it...Santa is as real as we make him, as real as generousity and caring for others. He only ceases to exist if we ignore others and turn away from our fellow creatures, animal and human alike.

[WillParkinson]

9. When my parents finally told me that there was no Santa...

It shook me up so bad I couldn't shave for 3 weeks.

[terrya]

10. I was 36 years old.

Just kidding. :-)

I was in grade school. 5th grade. Cindy Chase, one of my classmates, told me. I went home that afternoon and told Mom and Dad. They weren't pleased at my "news"

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

11. I think I was about 5 years old .

I spent the night over my cousin C's house . Her older cousin Q who was about 9 was also there at the time . It was Christmas time , every kid is happy at the time and so was my cousin and I . My little cousin C were talking silently to each other saying " ooh in 2 more weeks Santa Claus is coming ! YAY ! " etc . And her older cousin Q heard us and said " You two do know that Santa Claus is not real right ?!?! Its just your parents dressed up in suit right ! Here I will show you in a catalog ... " And she showed my little cousin C and I a picture in a catalog where you could order a Santa Claus suit . My little cousin and I immediately started crying on the spot . I was only 5 but C was 2 , her innocence was immediately lost . I could not sleep that night . It was 12 at night , my little cousin C and I could not sleep that night . It was like PAIN LMAO ! It was 12 at night and I wanted to go back home , my cousin C came with me as well . Oh the horror . Needless to say my mom reassured my cous C and I tha Santa was real by saying that " Q does not get any visits from Santa because she is a bad girl . " It worked and our Christmas was saved . She was in a lot of trouble for telling us that btw .

[radwriter0555]

12. I figured that out at the same time as the jesus and easter bunny stuff..

that it was all myth, smoke, mirrors and fairy tales.

All to be enjoyed, appreciated and not taken too seriously.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Me? Can't remember. My oldest kid: weeks ago

She's 7. She came and told me, out of the blue, she knew Santa is a fairy tale. Oddly, she didn't look sad, but proud (thereby making ME proud). Must be her skeptic dad's unconscious influence.