# Did your parents tell you Santa was real when you were little?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-santa-was-real-when-you-were-little/675928
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 9, 2013, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-santa-was-real-when-you-were-little/675928 "2013-12-09T22:33:35Z")
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### Author: ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-santa-was-real-when-you-were-little/675928/36 "2013-12-10T15:28:08Z")

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My parents did the Santa thing, and at least when I and my brothers were young they played it seriously (e.g. gifts from Santa had a different wrapping paper and different handwriting on the tags than gifts from Mom and Dad). I never came right out and asked them whether Santa was real or not. But I do remember one year (I’m not sure what age) thinking that probably Santa Claus was just Mom and Dad, but not knowing for certain, and worrying that I’d have to get the issue settled for sure one way or the other before I had kids of my own. (So that means I didn’t have a moment of revelation or disillusionment; the realization came upon me gradually.)

Anyway, I’m glad my parents did Santa, and I think it enriched me, for reasons I’ve mentioned in earlier threads:

> [@Santa Claus: To Perpetuate the Tale to Children or Not?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-claus-to-perpetuate-the-tale-to-children-or-not/392666/18):
>
> Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy—they _are_ real. I know, because when I was a kid, I got the goodies in my stocking, and the hidden candy eggs, and the money under my pillow.
> 
> What I became aware of when I got older was, **not** that Santa Claus wasn’t real, but that **Santa Claus was really Dad and Mom**. Santa Claus didn’t stop existing. I just had a better understanding of who Santa Claus really was. Santa Claus was someone who loved me enough that he not only wanted to give me presents and goodies, he wanted to make it happen in a fun and exciting and magical way.

> [@No , VIRGINIA, there is no Santa Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-virginia-there-is-no-santa-claus/604846/20):
>
> Except that, I never felt tricked. I never had the rug pulled out from under my feet. At some age, I realized that “Santa Claus” was a benevolent conspiracy to make me, and all children, happy. Santa Claus was my parents arranging for me to have toys and candy and happy surprises, without them taking credit for it. Which, when you’re old enough to appreciate it, is a more wonderful and heart-gladdening thing than the literal existence of a fat elf in a red suit who lives at the North Pole.
> 
> So today what I believe is that Santa Claus is a symbol of, or metaphor for, something that really does exist.

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