Did anyone believe in Santa Clause when they were a child?
 

I have never believed in Santa Clause and I've brought this up with my friends at lunch and I can only assume that they all did 'cause they felt that it was a sign of mental illness for a child to not believe something that is constantly affirmed and re-affirmed by adults.

As a side story, I recently read about a guy who, as a child, told his friends that there was no Santa Clause and, consequently, his parents recieved a flood of phone calls from angry parents.

So, did anyone believe in Santa Clause when they were a child?

I did until my siblings and I would catch my dad playing with our toys and stuff (the ones too big to wrap, or the origional NES when it came out...he had to try that first...) while he was putting them under the tree. So then when we didn't believe there was one, my parents made us keep it to ourselves and at least pretend we believed. They did this by threatening to not give us any presents if we didn't believe in Santa Clause, or if it was after christmas, to take our presents back. It was a good tactic that's now just an old joke that gets brought up every christmas.

Yea, most of the people that I grew up with did, altho I'm not quite sure who or where or when I lost my 'faith' heh. Altho my brother's didn't last as long as mine, I can tell you that.

Well, I sure did, until I was about 10 or 11.

I dunno why, but I never bothered to tell any other kids. I like the spirit of Christmas. :)

No. Fortunately it wasn't promoted in my family.
I always knew who gave me my gifts.

Ok let me tell you a little story... I was around 5 or 6, growing up in Soviet Russia. Over yonder, we didn't have Christmas. We had New Year's, which was the Soviet equivalent.

Anyway, I'm with my parents, watching TV. The TV is in one of the corners next to the balcony. The "New Year's Tree" is standing in the other adjacent corner to the balcony. The tree is in plain view, and I've already raided for presents, so there's definitely nothing there, and nobody could have touched it, as I was keeping a close eye.

So my mom goes and opens the balcony door "to let Old Man Frost in" (thats Santa's badass Russian cousin.. I bet he'd win in a fight :D). I carefully note that she does not touch the tree, and doesn't come close to it at all. She sits back down, out of reach of the tree.

Later in the evening, I find an awesome (by Soviet standards) set of little aluminum cars with plastic wheels (think HotWheels, except made for a third world country). This event has yet to be explained. Seriously, thats X-Files material right there, and you bet you ass it had me believing. :)

I did until probably age 8. I remember crying when my sister told me. That heartless bitch!

WAIT!!! There is no SANTA CLAUSE!?!?!?!? NNOOOOOO.
Never believed in him...but I don't celebrate Christmas so that is no surprise. But my parents always told me not to tell anyone at school that he didn't really exist (same with the Easter Bunny).

I definately believed!

When i got a bit older and the kids in school told me that he didn't exist i used to cry myself to sleep. This was becuase i felt so guilty that i didn't believe in something that my parents said was true.

My parents have since said that it was a really difficult one as we got older because they felt that they shouldn't lie to us.

I believed.

I distinctly remember looking up at the night sky on December 24th, swearing that I heard bells and saw reindeer and a sled in the distance. How messed up is that? :p

I still believe.

It's apart of the Christmas spirit. Now, I know that he isn't the cat that put the presents under my tree when I was younger. But without him Christmas would be just another pointless holiday. I found out from my older sister. It wasn't that big of a deal. I still knew that every year from then on I could at least thank the people that gave me all those wondeful things... my bitter, heartless parents.

I miss Santa. That jolly fat fuck.

I believed in him till I was about 6-7 I guess.

Oh man, that was brilliant.

First of all, people...Santa CLAUS, not CLAUSE. Santa Clause is the movie with Tim Allen.

Now...to agree with the King...I still believe. I know who gets me the presents. Does it stop me and my brother from writing a letter to Santa every Christmas Eve to leave with milk and cookies? Nope. I love Santa. That jolly fat fuck, indeed.

I believed too. We had a police station about 2 miles from our house. It had a communications tower that had a red beacon on top of it. I'd swear it was Rudolph leading the way to my house. I got my ass in bed as soon as I could. Why I never bothered to look for it the rest of the year is beyond me.

I still believe too, especially since I've been Mr. Claus for 17 years now (and I've got the body to prove it!)

Oh yes until I was about 6 or 7. I also remember telling my brother, who is 4 years younger than me he didn't exist. My brother cried so much, and my mum said I wouldn't get any presents unless I told my brother he did exist. These days I often wonder why my brother lives in a different country.

I couldn’t wait until Christmas Eve .tossing an turning in my bed hoping to catch a glimpse of the fat man climbing down the chimney. Very exciting...

At the age of six, my brother an I herd what we thought was Santa dropping off our toys, but to our surprise, we found my Mom shoving gifts under the tree, and my Pop eating the cookies…. Bah Humbug.

I did. I really did. But then my mother ruined it for me and screamed in my face: THERE IS NO SANTA CLAUSE, THERE IS NO EASTER BUNNY! Yeah, that devastated me.

I believe till I was like 9 or 10, and then my evil cousing told me that it was all a lie the night before christmas. In my family it's the tradition that some guy dresses up as santa and gives out presents. That year was horrible, I had to sit on some mexica guy's lap knowing that he wasn't santa.

I wish I never found out :(

I did to an extent...my mother is horrible at hiding gifts, and I usually found a couple of them before the big day. But I wanted to believe, and so I did, until I was 9 or 10.

Still, in my family, we still talk about Santa like he's really the one who fills my stocking every year. Only now, I play Santa for my parents and dog and leave little treats in their stockings as well. It's fun. I can't wait to have my own kids so I can suprise them as well. Who cares if its a lie, it's a sweet lie.

WHAT?!? THERE'S NO SANTA CLAUS?!?

*distraught*


*tear*

Oh yeah, I did for a looong time. I still remember where I was when my mom told me the truth (that sprit of christmas crap).

I did, up until the moment I tackled my mom while she was putting presents under the tree.

I believed for a while as a child; I was crushed when my mom finally told me the truth. My brothers, on the other hand, were lucky enough to find out at an earlier age than I did.

Does anyone think it's weird for a kid to not believe?

When I was 6 or so I figured it out while rummaging through my parents' closet. But I thought that if I told them that I knew, I would ruin all the enjoyment they got out of the whole act. Plus I feared that I would get fewer presents.

I had to work really hard to act like I still believed. I'm a terrible actor.

i believed until i got a half-built bike for christmas.

I started to have some doubts last year, but I think I will
hang in there a while longer....:D

i believed it for so long... till my mom s handwriting matched perfectly in 5th grade

I believed for a while- my parents would even ring sleigh bells to get us to go to bed on Christmas Eve (Santa knows if you are sleeping). "He's coming! Hurry up!!"

But then, my dad also thought it was hilarious to tell us that he had just heard on the news that Santa fell off somebody's roof and broke his leg, so there'd be no Christmas this year :(

I don't know when I stopped believing, exactly...it just sort of faded out. Maybe because I always had a little seed of doubt.

santa clause...bah
god...bah

I'm not sure why this is such a big deal, for anyone at any age. I don't mean the comment in a condescending way, I genuinely do not understand, nor ever did. I think it is partly because I have never believed in anything that I couldn't hold in my hands or see in plain light.

So no, I didn't believe in Santa Claus, or any other fictional fairy-tale character, not at any age. My first interaction with Santa Claus was hearing about him from classmates. When I told my parents, they informed me that parents were lying to their children and Santa Claus did not exist. I was sent to the principal a day later for the fight that resulted from bringing this news back to my friends.

Why is this a big deal? I'm especially intrigued by the person who received phone calls from the angry parents of children he had disillusioned. If I were tricked into believing in Santa Claus, I would thank the first person that cured me of such foolishness.

I believed. I stopped when someone else told me the truth, I think. I'm pretty sure I asked my parents for confirmation, though. Things your buddies in elementary school tell you should always be verified.

It became difficult for me when one year, Santa was really drunk and spoke Finnish, and the next year, Santa was black.

Rude awakening, really.

i believed in santa... but im not really sure how old i was when i stopped believing... but its still fun to ask young kids now if santa is gonna bring them presents this year... most of them think they have been good boys and girls... the spirit of christmas is so much fun!

The spirit of Christmas is a waste of time and energy. It would be much easier and more straightforward if we just asked the kids what they wanted, bought it for them if we thought they deserved it, and be finished with the entire thing.

This reminds me of a Simpsons quote (paraphrased 'cause you can't see the visual cues):

Is this a statue of santa?
Yes, except it's Japanese and, over there, they call him Annual Gift Man!

The Japanese always were smarter than us when it came to things other than war. They have better toys, better movies, better music, better toilets, better games, and better porn.

I agree with WK.

I have always, and will always, believe in the guy. It's my nature to want to believe in things like that. It's sometimes hard for me, since I've been a magician longer than I can remember, and that background sometimes hurts my ability to suspend my disbelief, but I figure if there's anything that's worth that extra effort, it's believing in things that are magical, whether it's a man in red velvet bringing me presents, an overgrown jackrabbit with psychadelic eggs, or any of the other wonderful things I've grown up to believe.

I understand that I may come off as naive, but that's not exactly the case. I fully understand the logistics of it, and what happens after "bedtime" on Christmas Eve. But I just prefer to think that I'm the one with the right idea, and that Santa's just playing my parents for suckers (they don't believe? fine, he'll let THEM buy everything and try to set it all up! :) ). For me, it makes life a little more pleasant and a whole lot less like hell.

I do, however, fully understand the people that don't desire to believe, or weren't raised in a household that practices the whole Santa thing. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Adulthood is far to serious. I think children should be able to believe in Santa for as long as the ruse can be maintained. Imagination is what childhood is all about. I believed in Santa for entirely too long and was brokenhearted when I found out he was really my dad... There's something very innocent about letting your imagination go with the weather guy who's tracking Santa's trek around the world :)

Why would you enjoy purposely decieving yourself or your kids? Reality can be harsh - but I don't consider self-delusion to be an acceptable answer to that particular problem.