Question Of The Day - Monday, December 24, 2018

[MoochNNoodles]

Merry Christmas Eve!

It's after 1 am but I'm up finishing my cookie baking. After I get some sleep it's time for pies! Then tonight "Santa" needs to wrap ALL the presents.


Did you believe in Santa as a child? How old were you when you stopped?




I did. I still remember watching my stocking hanging from the closet door knob willing myself to sleep. Then my eyes popping open and suddenly it was FULL! Of course I'd pop out of bed to peek inside once or twice. Once there was a teddy bear with glow-in-the-dark fabric clothes. I still have that. Sometimes Santa (my Grandpa) would call my house to talk to me. Of course that was long before caller id.

I think I was 9 or so when my Mom decided to tell me the truth. Maybe 10. She thought I was going to be crushed. I wasn't. At all.

 

[Kat0121]

I will never stop believing in Santa because Santa is real. Santa is anyone who does something to make someone else's holiday special. Anyone can be Santa regardless of age, gender or race. Red suit not required. This Santa is rocking a Hello Kitty sleepshirt and fluffy cat socks! When we have secret Santa at work, I always sign the card Mrs. Claws.

 

[Katie M]

I believed when I was little. I was still in elementary school when I stopped. I don't think my parents actually told me the truth, it's just that my belief gradually faded.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Yes ! Wonderful memories of believing in Santa Claus. We even left cookies & milk out for the old guy. Very excited to see he had a snack before he left. And the presents
I feel lucky as I know many children do not have it as nice as I did.
It was a hard fact to deal with when reality hit. I always thought Santa came to visit kids - not adults. But at about age 30 the dream was gone. It's tought growing up but worth it ...´

 

[Winchester]

Yes, we believed. I don't how old we all were when we stopped. I stopped first, but never told my younger sister or brother. But I think we were fairly young. And as we got older, my sister and I used to snoop all through the house, looking for our gifts. We even brought the ladder down to the crawl space above the house, so we could snoop. It got so bad that Mom and Dad would have to put our things in the camper....and then take the camper key to work with them.

I don't know how old our son was when he stopped believing. He used to awaken us around 3:00 on Christmas morning and we'd tell him to go back to bed. When he got older, we were waking him up around 8:00 so we could open presents and have a holiday breakfast.

I still think Christmas is magical. Although I did tell Rick yesterday that I thought Christmas was more fun when I was a kid. It's more difficult being an adult and having to deal with the clean house, the cookies, the decorations, buying gifts. But I still love it.

 

[Mia6]

I sooo believed till a family friend told me the truth a age 5.
I cried the whole way home.

 

[jcat]

I believed in Santa till about age 4 or 5, when my older brother "enlightened" me.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i did believe in Santa as a young child. i'm pretty sure it was some kid(s) in elementary school who 'enlightened' me.

 

[NY cat man]

I was probably 10 or 11 when I stopped believing in Santa Claus. I don't know why or when exactly, not at this late date.

 

[Lari]

I believed so hard, that I denied it when other people tried to tell me he wasn't real. I think I was finally 11 or so when I had to face the truth.

But I love "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" and I still believe in that way.
-"He exists as surely as love, and generosity, and devotion exist, and you know that they abound to give your life its highest beauty and joy" (that's from memory so may not be 100% correct)

 

[bodester413]

I think I was around 8 or 9 when I stopped believing in Santa. I can't remember if anyone told me or I just figured it out.

 

[Kat0121]

 

[aliceneko]

I did believe in Santa as a child. I was around 8 when I stopped, because our teacher sat us all down and told us that Santa didn't exist when one of the children in my class said that Santa was going to give him a new bike for Christmas. What a way to spoil a kid's Christmas!

 

[marmoset]

I did believe in Santa but really he creeped me out. No joke- I was afraid of him. That whole see's you when your sleeping, knows when your awake thing scared me. I'm so so so so glad the Elf on the Shelf thing wasn't a thing back then.

I stopped believing pretty young because I woke up and was tiptoeing to the bathroom when I saw my mom and dad wrapping gifts. In the morning I realized the wrapping paper from Santa was the same stuff used by my parents and that was it. But I was good at keeping it a secret from the other kids.

For the kids who might be reading this: I'm just a crazy lady online. Any denial of Santa is for dramatic/ entertainment purposes only. My parents were just helping Santa because his elves had a cold that year which happens frequently because the North Pole is COLD and it was all they could do to package the toys before they got the sniffled and needed to rest in their cozy beds.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I did believe in Santa Claus. I was 9, I believe, when my mom told me. She actually told me on Easter because I noticed that the Easter bunny had the same handwriting as her. I wasn't disappointed. I just remember saying, "I knew it!"

 

[Furballsmom]

I did, still do in my .

 

[Norachan]

I did believe in Santa but really he creeped me out. No joke- I was afraid of him. That whole see's you when your sleeping, knows when your awake thing scared me.

You too, huh? The idea of some strange guy climbing down the chimney into our house at night with a big sack scared me when I was a kid.

I think a lot of the Santa stories from Europe were supposed to be scary, weren't they? There seems to have been a lot of beating bad children and stuffing them into sacks going on in that part of the world.

 

[muffy]

I believed in Santa until my mother told me when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I was so hurt and disappointed to find out the truth. I never had kids of my own but I swore I would never let them believe in Santa because it hurts too much to find out the truth.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

My DH never believed in Santa and our kids never have either. We talk about how it's fun to pretend (we do pretend the Tooth Fairy comes) and that we shouldn't ever spoil it for another kid. They like the idea of helping keep the story going for other kids. It's like they know a special secret and that's pretty cool to them.

We wave to Santa in the mall and they get to visit the one who comes to my Mother's work every year. We forgot to put out the reindeer food they gave us though (oats with green sugar sprinkles). We have fun and watch Santa movies. I've just never wanted that to be the whole focus of Christmas for us.

Right now we are enjoying a new tradition; popcorn for dinner/bedtime snack on Christmas night. Everyone ate so much earlier no one is hungry for a full meal. So we are all on the couch in pjs with popcorn watching Netflix.

 

[Willowy]

I never did, and that's probably the best thing because I was scared of people in costume anyway. If I believed he was real I would have been traumatized instead of just suspicious, lol.

Yes, I think the early European Santa stories were to scare kids into behaving the way their parents wanted. They're pretty unpleasant! I think the modern jolly Santa started as a Coke commercial.