I was one week shy of being five years old when I KNEW there was no Santa.
We were leaving for church on Christmas Eve, at 6:30 PM. It was dark outside by then. While still in the driveway my mom “remembered” something and had to go back in the house. Through a crack in the curtains to the kitdhen I could see her put away the Oreos and milk we’d left out for Santa.
ZI knew then there was not a Santa, and no Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy either. But I kept my mouth shut just in case saying so would stop the goodies.
This incident I remember so clearly. What I don’t remember is that my mother says, when I was about eight, that she tried to break it to me gently there was no Santa. Mom says I replied “I know that!”