When Did You Stop Believing In Santa Claus or Father Christmas?

[David In Indy]

I think I was about 8 when I stopped believing. I remember when it happened too. My sister and I were playing downstairs in the basement. Our play room was located just next to my Dad's office. We were tossing a ball, and it bounced into the office and rolled in front of a cupboard at the far end of the room. As I was picking the ball up, and noticed many Christmas presents inside the cupboard, and when I opened the door I saw gift tags which read "To David from Santa" and "To Susan from Santa". Well, my Mom tried to tell me that Santa Claus dropped the gifts off early because he is always so busy, but I didn't believe her. Not completely. That was the beginning of the end from me.

But, every Christmas Eve, I still listen for reindeer hooves on the roof! I guess a part of me still believes a little bit. Why not? It's possible isn't it? People always tell me "anything is possible", so this would also include Santa! 

How old were you?

[injest]

what are you talking about??!

I don't understand the question.

[David In Indy]

How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa, Jess.

[injest]

what are you trying to imply here??!!

You better watch out or Santa won't be bringing you NUTHIN!

[injest]

How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa, Jess.

Who do you think brings all those presents every year??

Who do you think drives the sleigh? feeds the reindeer?

You think them elves do it all by themselves??

[Luvlylittlewing]

I think I was about 8 as well.  I remember waking up at around midnight Xmas eve to see if Santa left us any presents.  We usually had so many presents under the tree as the month progressed, but that year, no presents were left under the tree.  I snuck into the living room only to see my parents sitting down in front of our tree, wrapping our presents.  I was fortunate that my parents didn't notice me there, and I let them think I believed in Santa for a few years to come.

[Luvlylittlewing]

what are you trying to imply here??!!

You better watch out or Santa won't be bringing you NUTHIN!

    

[David In Indy]

Who do you think brings all those presents every year??

Who do you think drives the sleigh? feeds the reindeer?

You think them elves do it all by themselves??

You still believe then. There's a selection up there for that. Go mark it in the poll Jess.

[David In Indy]

I think I was about 8 as well.  I remember waking up at around midnight Xmas eve to see if Santa left us any presents.  We usually had so many presents under the tree as the month progressed, but that year, no presents were left under the tree.  I snuck into the living room only to see my parents sitting down in front of our tree, wrapping our presents.  I was fortunate that my parents didn't notice me there, and I let them think I believed in Santa for a few years to come.

Aww! That was nice of you to do that! Sometimes I think the parents have more fun at Christmas than the kids do. I think it would be fun to be "the man behind the curtain" and create all the magic for the kids. That was nice you extended them this opportunity for an extra few years!

[injest]

You still believe then. There's a selection up there for that. Go mark it in the poll Jess.

this is the craziest poll I ever saw...I am gonna start one that asks..."Do you believe in the sun?"

[Luvlylittlewing]

Aww! That was nice of you to do that! Sometimes I think the parents have more fun at Christmas than the kids do. I think it would be fun to be "the man behind the curtain" and create all the magic for the kids. That was nice you extended them this opportunity for an extra few years!

You're certainly right about Christmas being just as fun for the parents!  And my parents went all out!  I'm one of 3 kids (I'm the middle child) and each of us received so many presents that it took us literally hours to open them all.  My folks made a decent living and spoiled us at Christmastime.  One thing I remember: every year my brother received a doctor's satchel filled with toy stethoscope, candy pills, bandages, etc. (anyone remember those?) while my sister and I got nurses' kits every year.  I think my mom was trying to tell us something! 

[dot-matrix]

I'm with Jess on this one I believe!  I believe in the easter bunny, the tooth fairy and the Great Pumpkin too!    At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[David In Indy]

You're certainly right about Christmas being just as fun for the parents!  And my parents went all out!  I'm one of 3 kids (I'm the middle child) and each of us received so many presents that it took us literally hours to open them all.  My folks made a decent living and spoiled us at Christmastime.  One thing I remember: every year my brother received a doctor's satchel filled with toy stethoscope, candy pills, bandages, etc. (anyone remember those?) while my sister and I got nurses' kits every year.  I think my mom was trying to tell us something! 

I remember those doctor kits!! Yup. I had a few of them too, and those pills never lasted very long. I'd always end up eating them all! The kit came in a plastic case. Sure I remember those, Littlewing!

[David In Indy]

I'm with Jess on this one I believe!  I believe in the easter bunny, the tooth fairy and the Great Pumpkin too!    At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Well, I already admitted I still believe in him a little bit. I guess I keep a tiny bit of my childhood alive in my heart. I don't know what it is. But I always keep my ears trained for reindeer noises each Christmas Eve. I realize there won't be any reindeers on my roof, but a small part of me continues to believe and to listen for them each year. I guess I'm still a kid at heart. It's kind of weird, isn't it?

[injest]

Well, I already admitted I still believe in him a little bit. I guess I keep a tiny bit of my childhood alive in my heart. I don't know what it is. But I always keep my ears trained for reindeer noises each Christmas Eve. I realize there won't be any reindeers on my roof, but a small part of me continues to believe and to listen for them each year. I guess I'm still a kid at heart. It's kind of weird, isn't it?

well, if you would tell Alex to sit on the OTHER end of the couch and keep his hands to HIMSELF.....maybe you could get off the naughty list and onto the GOOD one with me and Dottie!!

[Jeff Wrangler]

Not believe in Santa Claus! 

Like the man said, you might as well not believe in ... fairies. ...   

[Scott6373]

Naturally since I was raised Catholic I believed only what my parents told me, but once I got  their number, the jig was up, and from there my atheism was born.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Naturally since I was raised Catholic I believed only what my parents told me, but once I got  their number, the jig was up, and from there my atheism was born.

What's not believing in God got to do with believing or not believing in a fat man in a red suit who brings you stuff every 25th of December?

[Scott6373]

What's not believing in God got to do with believing or not believing in a fat man in a red suit who brings you stuff every 25th of December?

Saint Nicolas...once I was able to make my own decisions about God, it kind of made the concept of sainthood trivial.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Saint Nicolas...once I was able to make my own decisions about God, it kind of made the concept of sainthood trivial.

Whatever. Santa Claus seems so removed from Saint Nicholas these days as to be practically unrelated, in my opinion.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

In the third grade everyone had decided there was no Santa, but me. It was weird. I was so hard headed I was not going to give up on him and incured quite a bit of riticule about it. The next year I just didn;t want to talk about it. 

[Scott6373]

I'm just a big old Scrooge anyway.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm just a big old Scrooge anyway.

Better that than a Tiny Tim. ...

[loneleeb3]

I still believe!!
I think the following is one of the most beautiful and meaningful things to ever come from an editorial!

"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.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] 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 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. 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 may 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, fancy, 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 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.

 
   
 
 

[Kelda]

this is the craziest poll I ever saw...I am gonna start one that asks..."Do you believe in the sun?"

 

Cute poem Lee!

And do you know i really can't remember but I still remeber to this day the beardy smeall coming from the milk I had left out for Santa - to this day i still swear it smells of beard! The memory is so vivid.

[Lumière]

"I still believe a little, but I mostly don't believe.."


This sounded so cute, I voted that way. 

[Scott6373]

Oy vey!

[Shakesthecoffecan]

I'm just a big old Scrooge anyway.

Your not that big. 

[Scott6373]

Your not that big. 

Not anymore

[Jeff Wrangler]

Let us not forget. ...

Grandma got run over by a reindeer
Walkin' home from our house Christmas Eve.
Some folks say there's no such thing as Santa,
But as for me and Grandpa, we believe!

    

[Katie77]

He is definately real.........Saw him on the Jerry Springer show, arguing with the Easter Bunny.....what more proof would you need ?

[Kd5000]

I was considered a damn fool by my classmates for continuing to believe in Santa Clause in 3rd grade. I never understood why we returned Santa's toys to SEARS if we weren't happy.   And that Sear "wish book" catalog  that I studied devoutly explained how this  was Santa's toy lineup for the year.  What a conspiracy.  And that letter Virgina wrote to the New York Sun asking if there was a Santa Clause. They said yes.  SO now I couldn't believe the media.   They use to reprint that letter in the paper's editorial section every December.

http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/

I love the Santa Clause myth.  Christmas ain't the same when you learn the darn truth. I wonder if my parents even ate those cookies we put out. 

[injest]

Whatever. Santa Claus seems so removed from Saint Nicholas these days as to be practically unrelated, in my opinion.

Santa Claus is not related to St. Nickolaus although many people get them confused....as ANYONE that follows the Christmas stories knows....Santa was found in the forest by the animals who took him to live with the Kringles (a clan of toy making elves) The Kringles took him in and taught him the business (giving him the name Kris Kringle). The Kringles USED to be the Official Toy Makers to the King.

It is sad how many people nowadays don't know their history..

[David In Indy]

Santa Claus is not related to St. Nickolaus although many people get them confused....as ANYONE that follows the Christmas stories knows....Santa was found in the forest by the animals who took him to live with the Kringles (a clan of toy making elves) The Kringles took him in and taught him the business (giving him the name Kris Kringle). The Kringles USED to be the Official Toy Makers to the King.

It is sad how many people nowadays don't know their history..

You just watched Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, didn't you Jess?

[David In Indy]

I was considered a damn fool by my classmates for continuing to believe in Santa Clause in 3rd grade. I never understood why we returned Santa's toys to SEARS if we weren't happy.  

That's funny because I used to wonder the exact same thing!

[David In Indy]

He is definately real.........Saw him on the Jerry Springer show, arguing with the Easter Bunny.....what more proof would you need ?

I've never seen that cartoon before, Sue!! It's cute!!

[injest]

That's funny because I used to wonder the exact same thing!

*sigh*

cause Santa couldn't come all the way back down from the North Pole! He takes a vacation right after the 25th and he has an agreement with retail stores for just such an event!

What?? You think he is gonna hook up the sleigh and make those reindeer fly ALL the way back cause you broke your Charlie-in-a-box?

[David In Indy]

*sigh*

cause Santa couldn't come all the way back down from the North Pole! He takes a vacation right after the 25th and he has an agreement with retail stores for just such an event!

What?? You think he is gonna hook up the sleigh and make those reindeer fly ALL the way back cause you broke your Charlie-in-a-box?

Charlie-in-the-box is from Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer. He's from the island of misfit toys. You are getting your shows mixed up Jess.

[injest]

Charlie-in-the-box is from Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer. He's from the island of misfit toys. You are getting your shows mixed up Jess.

I most certainly am not! I know Charlie-in-the-box is from Rudolph! That is the story about how Santa gets Rudolph! (You have to watch them in order)

they are merely chapters of the same history!

jeez!

and it is The ISLE of Misfit Toys.

[Katie77]

I'm believing every word you are saying, Jess........

.........I am..........true........I am........

[loneleeb3]

I most certainly am not! I know Charlie-in-the-box is from Rudolph! That is the story about how Santa gets Rudolph! (You have to watch them in order)

they are merely chapters of the same history!

jeez!

and it is The ISLE of Misfit Toys.

Isn't the Isle ruled by Moon Dancer the flying lion?

[Jeff Wrangler]

OMG!  I voted and discovered that I'm the only one that's never believed.  God, what a stick in the mud I am.  I am so going to hell. 

 

Emergency! Emergency! Emergency!

We gotta convince Gary so he doesn't go to Hell! 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Jeff, I'll believe when I find Tobey Maguire, aka Spiderman, in my living room on Christmas morning with a bow on his head.   

In the Spiderman suit ... or out of it? 

[loneleeb3]

Jeff, I'll believe when I find Tobey Maguire, aka Spiderman, in my living room on Christmas morning with a bow on his head.   

Which one?   

[Jeff Wrangler]

Which one?   

Richard, you're not helping. ...

    

[Jeff Wrangler]

In the Spiderman suit ... or out of it? 

Oh, he should be in it, don't you think?  I mean if he's my present, shouldn't I get to unwrap him?  

I would agree with that. Besides, I like hot guys in Spandex. 

[Kerry]

I have photographic proof that Santa exists!!! 

I photographed this myself just last Christmas. I had built the snowman and Santa magically brought him to life and danced with him on Christmas Eve! 

It was a really, reeeeeeeeeally cold Summer here in Sydney, last Christmas!!!           

[injest]

I have photographic proof that Santa exists!!! 

I photographed this myself just last Christmas. I had built the snowman and Santa magically brought him to life and danced with him on Christmas Eve! 

It was a really, reeeeeeeeeally cold Summer here in Sydney, last Christmas!!!           

see David??? SEE!!

You can't doubt pictures!!

[Kerry]

Once upon a time, children, many many years ago, when I was just a little boy, I came across a pixie at the bottom of my garden. I caught hold of him and held him tight and he promised me three wishes if I would set him free. I won't reveal what my three wishes were. Suffice to say, however, that I wish I hadn't wasted one on a new train set! But I digress! After I'd set the pixie free, I found this tiny, little pixie picture under a geranium shrub. It had fallen from the pixie's teeny-weeny lil waistcoat pocket. I have treasured it ever since. Proof positive of Santa's existence, as far as I'm concerned! I mean, if you can't trust a pixie, who can you trust?

   

[Jeff Wrangler]

 

Sorta looks like me and Chuckie doin' the Virginia Reel at the barbecue in Colorado last May. ...

[Marge_Innavera]

I guess technically I was about 8, but I don't remember my Mom ever telling me there was no Santa Claus. It was something I just gradually grew out of. At ages 9 and 10 I was still pretending to believe, but that was as much a game as anything else.

The traditional Santa story took some belief in magic to accept if you lived in south Florida. I'd never seen snow, didn't know how a sleigh worked and the closest thing we had to a chimney was the little vent pipe sticking up through the room from the kitchen.

Never wondered about department store Santa Clauses, though. My Mom told me the real Santa was swamped with work at the North Pole and these were his elves doing reconnaissance.

[isabelle]

I was just over 5 when I stopped believing, and that was an extremely traumatic experience, I tell you! Kids at school had been saying "it's the parents, there's no Santa", and I kept pestering my parents with questions to know the truth .... and they told me, on Xmas day ! I was devastated, and scared, as the world suddenly appeared to me as it has turned out to be indeed: a cruel place.

I was so traumatised by this, that I did not want my kids to believe in Santa; however, THEY kept telling me I was wrong, that Santa existed... they believed TV and other kids and the whole society instead of believing me.

My son is now 13, and he stopped believing around 6 I think, but he was fine; just said "well, so long as I still get the pressies"!
My daughter is almost 7 and still believes; she is a staunch believer too! She asked me "the question" and I did say oh-so-kindly that yes, Santa is imaginary, but she can't be ready yet: she didn't take my answer seriously!

She is so happy to believe, maybe after all it is for the better. She has just started hearing about Jesus Christ (again, from other people, as we are not particularly religious at home), so HE might take Santa's place in her heart, who knows?