how did u learn Santa wasn't real

The fuck u say he aint?

Barged into my mom's room as she was wrapping presents. Saw electronic battleship game not yet wrapped. She could've still maintained the rouse, being that they always put out some presents as from "mom and dad" and some from Santa. But Xmas day the electronic battleship said "from Santa".

We celebrated Christmas but my parents never mentioned Santa to me at all, so I learned about him from other kids in preschool. I came home and asked my parents, "Santa Claus isn't real, is he?" They confirmed that he wasn't.

Phoebe Cates to thread

i was about 10 & in grade 5 & the last kid in my class who still believed. i don’t remember what set it off but all i remember is it was recess & i was crying & being chased by some kids in my class who were making fun of me for still believing in santa.

they caught up to me & stood around me in a circle & this DUMB girl named Julie who always acted like she was running for mayor tried to smooth it over with this gold:

“The real Santa Claus died in an accident & his brother took over from him, so there still kind of is a Santa! It’s Santa’s brother!”

and i remember i stopped crying and just stared at her because even at the age of 10 this was the biggest fucking pile of bullshit i had ever heard. I mean, what in the Young and the Restless fuck. Seriously.

My parents were broke as shit so most of our presents came from visiting grandparents and my dad's mom wasn't about to let some overgrown magical elf get the credit.

Stumbled across the pressies stash when i was 6

I don't remember being told Santa wasn't real by anyone, but I just always knew. There wasn't a big revelation moment, it was just a fact. My parents tried to make it seem real and I played along but it was more for the sake of my little brother than anything.

I can remember getting scolded by my mum for for taking the piss out of a santa-believer cousin who was two years older than me. When you see other kids getting big traks and atari consoles when you get a lousy jungle book jigsaw and a crap laser gun, you know it's a rotten game!

I was watching Look North, the BBC's early evening regional news programme, and they were doing a vox pop on the streets, asking mothers how they kept the secret from their children. Which rather spoilt the magic.

Screw that, I'm not opening this lying dog-faced pony soldier thread.

Danny McGlynn from the year above told us all (at my Catholic primary school) that God wasn't real, it was just something your parents made up to make you behave, like Father Christmas. Real double-whammy there.

Recognized my dad's
Handwriting on the letter
Santa was my dad.

The correct answer is the poisoned Dad one.

That said, I don't remember ever thinking of Santa as a literal truth, more of a fun story with a larger spiritual/symbolic resonance. And I am pretty sure that's what my children took away as well.*

In my youth I worked as a department store Santa's helper, and knew a guy who vehemently advocated telling children that Santa was real, but in a kind of precious, sneakily didactic way. In his view, young children should be permitted the whole magical apparatus. They would then proceed by stages into understanding Santa more as a personified (yet collective) spirit of giving.

The phases are roughly...

First realization: Santa is real and is magic (I want stuff and I get stuff). Learning about delayed gratification and basic joy.

Second realization: Santa is real and my parents and loved ones participate in being Santa. Learning about shared goals and gratitude.

Third realization: Santa is real and I MYSELF can participate in being Santa. Learning about generosity and selflessness.

Fourth realization: Santa is real and I can help extend Santa-ness in the wider community, especially to those less fortunate. Learning about charity and addressing inequality.

There may be a fifth phase about passing it on generationally, I forget.

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* = or they might just be unsentimental little cynics / cranks. That would be okay too.

I have a brother who is 2 and a half years older than me and I learned from him or one of his friends when I was 8, I think

How many people must want to start a parody thread of this

i don't remember ever really truly believing, I guess I either hadn't fully formed a belief and then just knew deep down. my family didn't go hard on it, didn't go to a Santa's grotto or anything.

it's been interesting deciding how to approach this with a very persistently inquiring child!

from an ilx post

:'(

Well, I didn't learn it from the Louvin Brothers, that's for sure.

found pricetags on a stocking stuffer, aged 6 or 7

I don't remember ever thinking of Santa as a literal truth, more of a fun story with a larger spiritual/symbolic resonance.

I feel like this might have been the case for me? Our family definitely played up to Santa being a thing (hell, I still insist on stockings), but I don't remember a sudden shock realisation that it was my mum or anything, I feel like we just knew. Mind you, I don't really remember much of my childhood so I could be completely wrong ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have a vague memory of my mom having a very grave heart-to-heart with me sometime in my early elementary years, maybe? I don't recall it being a traumatic revelation, at any rate. But because I have siblings that are up to ten years younger than me, I helped maintain the pretense for a very long time afterward. Probably longer than the youngest among us was still a believer, I'm realizing now.

when I was 7, my asshole 'best friend' David, who belonged to a very strict religious family, decided to ruin it for me.

however he was only allowed to see G rated movies thanks to his upbringing so I still won at life.

my mom used to tell me that santa not only delivered toys, but he also collected them. so instead of santa bringing me things, i gave him cookies and he took some of my stuff to someone else. i am not sure whether or not i believed her but if so, it wasn't for long. maybe til i was 5 or so.

i learned that santa clause is real when i saw his gritty, no-holds-barred performance as detective crashmore in the film crashmore

My brother just casually told me he wasn’t real, at a different time of the year, and I just thought “oh”. I’m not sure if I would have had a different reaction if this happened at Christmas time.

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youngest of four kids,
my three know-it-all siblings
tore scales from my eyes

I don't think I ever thought he was real, I thought it was a "story" that we were all pretending to believe.
I have to admit I found the Tooth Fairy a more credible being, because how otherwise could my teeth disappear from under my pillow while I slept and be replaced by money?

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