I should confess that in 3rd grade, we were asked to write a letter to Santa.
My parents were conservative Christians by then and Santa was definitely NOT part of Christmas anymore. (Yeah, I was taught that Santa Claus was Satan’s Claws and all that . . .)
Anyway, not sure what to do and still honor my parents, I asked ‘Santa’ for stuff I knew my parents were buying - like the piano my mom always wanted, etc. I later ‘confessed’ to my parents what I had done so I wouldn’t get in trouble.
Anyway - my friend went on and on about how awful it was that I didn’t believe in Santa. So I said, “Fine. You believe in Santa, I’ll believe in The Great Pumpkin.”
She then went around telling everyone I believed in The Great Pumpkin. rolls eyes I was teased about that for about 3 weeks until someone else did something strange.
Obviously, my sarcasm was above the 3rd grade level at that point.
I had a friend who had a similar situation. I wouldn’t call it a small nervous breakdown, but I remember her being very distraught when she realized Santa was clearly fake. We flat out told her her parents were lying.
I think some parents let it go on too long and take it too far.
My parents weren’t zealous per se but I think this is the reason we were taught there was no Santa. People were giving gifts to celebrate the birth of Christ. We had egg and candy hunts but nothing about an Easter bunny. They did give us money for our teeth which is one of those weird contradictions about them.
I know some folks don’t like Santa because they think it takes away the true meaning of Christmas.
My family was devoutly religious yet my folks still saw no harm in Santa, the Easter Bunny, and all the rest.
For some humor the church I am currently a member of has some really beautiful stained glass windows. On the west side of the sanctuary there is a door that opens directly to the outside, and it’s called the St. Nicholas door because the inset window features St. Nicholas dressed as a bishop, surrounded by symbols of his life. But in the lower left hand corner of the window, gesturing up as if he’s saluting, is a classic figure of Santa, red suit, bag over his shoulder and all. Betcha there aren’t too many other churches with Santa in stained glass!
Off the subject, one of the two biggest windows is the Resurrection window, with a stylized picture of Christ rising from the tomb. At the bottom of the window are figures representative of people who lived before being able to hear the Gospel. One is a caveman figure, who looks to be chewing on a bone. Not your usual stained glass figure either, huh?
My parents wrapped gifts from Santa. I vividly remember Santa coming to my house when I was 8* to bring my stuffed Charlie dog (which is still kicking around somewhere). The next year I didn’t believe in Santa anymore for whatever reason.
My kids and my grandson believe(d) in Santa. As a matter of fact, I just told the grandson that letters to Santa are not written until after Thanksgiving. I imagine we’ll be writing to Santa this weekend.
*Was I a late believer? Let’s read the thread and find out!
Now see, the best thing about Santa is that you don’t have to wrap the presents! Anything awkward or bulky just comes from Santa, and you never have to worry about the wrapping part.
See, we were/are religious too, but this had nothing to do with our “not having” Santa. We just didn’t have it.
We didn’t have the Easter Bunny as a real thing either, but we did look for eggs and we got little baskets with candy(with the fake grass and everything). It was just a gift from Mom and Dad for Easter.
Do kids really believe in the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy?
Being of mostly Scandinavian heritage, we opened our presents after dinner on Christmas Eve. There were always a few more presents, ostensibly from Santa Claus, around the tree the next morning. I don’t recall ever specifically being taught to believe; it’s just something that was done for the benefit of the younger children. And as long as there was a pre-teen in the house everybody got more presents on Christmas morning.
I don’t remember exactly what I thought about the tooth for money thing. I’m sure I knew there was no fairy but it was still kind of magical that money appeared in place of my tooth, since I would have thought I would notice my parents coming in. It was never a set amount though, and clearly was the loose change my parents happened to grab.
I believed in Santa until the usual age. 5 or 6 maybe? But I remember I milked it for one more year, pretending I didn’t know the real deal. I was raised as an only child so their were no sibling issues…
Easter Bunny and The Tooth Fairy slipped quietly away after the Santa reveal…
We were Reform Jews, and celebrated Hanukkah with gifts and a menorah. But when we were little, we also had a Christmas tree, and gifts on Christmas morning. One year my father dressed up as Santa to give us our gifts, in spite of the fact that neither of us believed in Santa Claus. So we just laughed at him and made fun of him. He became very angry and stormed out of the room, cursing about how we never appreciated anything. Yep, that’s the way he was.
I remember telling a friend in kindergarden that there was no way that Santa could fly around the world in one night. There was no way he could get every house! So he must not be real.
I did. My parents weren’t all “he’s totally real!” but they didn’t exactly discourage us from believing in him, either. We always got “Santa” presents, even well after all of us stopped believing in him. I don’t remember how old I was when I first realized he wasn’t real, but I do remember noticing that “Santa’s” handwriting looked an awful lot like my mother’s :D. I also don’t remember being particularly traumatized by this realization, either.
I don’t remember ever believing. We were not specifically taught to believe in Santa, it was more or less assumed.
My earliest memories of Christmas is recognizing presents from Santa looked exactly like my mom’s handwriting. Also, I recall my little brother and sister wanting to stay up and wait for Santa and wanted me to join them. I wanted to tell them he wasn’t real but for some reason I didn’t. Another thing I rembember was asking my parents how he could visit every home in the world and fit through chimneys and the like. I have no idea what the answers to those questions were but I don’t think they were convincing.
My parents and I never discussed it and my mother still addresses many presents with Santa.
Yes, I did believe in Santa. Not sure exactly when the illusion began to crumble. Now we tell our older son NOT to spoil the illusion for his younger brothers, or for other kids, but to let them enjoy it while it lasts.
Everything was a sad ending with my father. He had a good sense of humor, but also an explosive temper. He could go ballistic over any little thing, and stay that way all day.