I’m not sure how old I was, maybe 7 or so. Mom actually had a great explanation, which made me feel very good, and I never felt lied to. I told my own son the same thing when he finally caught on: “Santa’s not a single person, Santa’s is a feeling. You’ve heard of Christmas Spirit, right? Santa’s the Chirstmas Spirit, that makes everyone want to have a magical time, and enjoy giving gifts to one another and make cookies and other foods we don’t make other times of the year, and tell stories and be with family we only see once a year.”
Siince I was well aware that people were mysteriously generous in late December, the way they weren’t the rest of the year, it made sense to me. Still does, in a way.
A friend of mine did a gig as a mall Santa, and wrote a newspaper article about it. His experience was, when you do that, you’re not playing Santa; you are Santa. Everybody treats you as Santa - adults, kids, security guards, “elves” - they interact with you as Santa.
I think he really has something there - when I get gifts for my family, or a family we sponsor, I am Santa Claus. I really feel that.
When I was in second grade, IIRC (so that would be age 6) I asked Santa for two boa constrictors and an alligator, so they would KILL people who were mean to me at school. (Yes, I was a well-adjusted child, why do you ask?) Between then and Christmas, though, I realized something was fishy about the whole Santa concept and asked my mom if Santa was real. She kept trying to put me off, but I insisted I wanted to know. Eventually, she told me no, he isn’t real… and I cried and cried and cried. :o