Holiday Poll: Santa

[author_by_night]

[Poll #1497137]
i was probably about eight or nine when I started questioning, ten or eleven when I knew for sure. I never believed in mall Santas, at least not that I know of, and it surprises me now when I hear of kids older than four who actually do believe that the guy whose lap they're sitting on is Santa. It was a game to me - the real Santa magically heard what the kids said. ;) I almost commented on this on Facebook when I realized a twelve year old cousin is on there - and while I highly doubt she still believes, I don't know, and I certainly don't want to be the one who breaks it to her. I also don't know if she should or shouldn't know.

The interesting thing is that kids series I used to read, The Baby-Sitters Club, practically aimed to get kids not to believe in Santa in the Christmas related books. When I loved the books at the age of eight, I just decided the author didn't "know better", but I now wonder how many kids she devastated. But was I too old, even at eight and nine?

One of my cousins has a PhD and was basically a kid genius, and she claims to still believe. I think most of it's joking, but I wonder if part of her doesn't still believe.

And on an OT but marginally related note... does anyone have or know of Christmas userpics?

Quick ETA: I do realize Santa /=/Sinterklaas exactly, but it's a similar idea. I happened to believe in both. :p

Comments

[edgiko.livejournal.com]

Suddenly I don't feel so bad no longer believing when I was around that age (ten-11. Though I think I was 12). Kids at school made fun of me for it and it was just so fucking STUPID.

But it reminds me of what my parents taught me which was always believe in Santa because Santa is the Christmas Spirit of giving. He may not be physically real but he's real in spirit and in our hearts.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

But it reminds me of what my parents taught me which was always believe in Santa because Santa is the Christmas Spirit of giving. He may not be physically real but he's real in spirit and in our hearts.

In a very small way, Santa did exist. He's based on many figures, mythical and historical and so forth. You can think of it that way too. And it absolutely does add to the symbol of giving. :)

[purple-ladybug1.livejournal.com]

I was nine when I figured it out. Luckily I found out after Christmas that year, so I enjoyed that one last year. For me, at least, I figured if Santa Claus was real, so was the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. I'd had my doubts about the Tooth Fairy for awhile, which led to me doubting the others. One night, my twin brother and I finally confronted our dad about it, and he told us the truth. I cried myself to sleep that night.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I cried myself to sleep that night.

Oh, ouch. *Hugs nine year old Brita*

[scarlett71177.livejournal.com]

http://community.livejournal.com/seasonal_icons/

That's one of the LJ comms featured this week.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[alchemistc.livejournal.com]

I think believing in Santa is just another part of the Christmas spirit. Everything is so magical and exciting when you believe in Santa - I think as we grow older Santa turns into family and friends and the spirit of giving.

I don't think there's a certain age when this should/does happen - some people will find out at 7 and be devastated for a few days, and some will still believe at 13 despite all of their peers laughing in their faces.

I personally found out when I was 8 - found my moms stash of baby teeth while rifling through her drawers (what? I was a curious child) and if the tooth fairy wasn't real, than all those other things I'd been told were real probably weren't either. I was not a happy camper for a few weeks.

In a way, yes, I do still believe - in the holidays, in the way Christmas and Santa and jolly old elves bring people together in a way they just aren't, the rest of the year.

[nundu-art.livejournal.com]

I discovered my parents were Santa at the age of 4 (I heard noises in the living room and thought I was missing Christmas morning), but don't remember being particularly devestated by it. I knew my parents loved me and worked hard to give us a few special gifts on Christmas (not easy as a very low level civil servant with seven children). The real joy of being 'Santa' was given to us as teens when we conspired to sneak the gifts for the younger ones in the house or stood outside and tossed pebbles on the roof to sound like reindeer on the house for the younger.

The joy of giving is personified in the spirit of Santa Claus and that is something I've never cast away.

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

I never really did believe in Santa. According to my parents, when first introduced to the concept, I spent Christmas Eve having screaming fits about the idea that some strange person was going to come into my bedroom while I slept. I guess I never stopped finding it creepy long enough to really believe.

As a result, I'm not a huge fan of keeping kids believing in Santa much past the time they're able to start asking sensible questions about the problems with the story. I don't think it does them any favours.

[crystalnova.livejournal.com]

Santa has never really meant anything to me. I think there must have been a time when I believed, but I can't remember it, and I know that by age 5 I had quietly figured it out or decided not to believe because a friend asked me if I believed in Santa (she was having her "Oh my god, he's not real!" year that year) and I told her, "No, but you should think what you want." I never made fun of anyone for believing or even told my parents I didn't believe... my mother told me when I was 10 or 11 and I was like, "Uh, yeah, it's good that you know this. I've had it figured out for a while." There was no sleepless night for me or even a sudden realization. I think I knew all along, but I did actively play along for years because I thought it was fun for other people.
My feelings are complicated towards the telling/not telling kids matter. I think that it's not right to ever make a big deal out of Santa Claus as a character, but that striking all Santa-mentioning carols and stories is also way too harsh a blow. A kid would hear about Santa at school anyway. I think my parents did really well with me, actually. My father made such a huge production of believing in Santa that I knew he had to be joking, because he never made such a big deal out of anything he really did believe in. Santa was never brought up in any sort of conversation. There was no writing of lists or letters, no questions about what I wanted from Santa, just what I wanted. One or two gifts were always marked as from him... in my mother's undisguised handwriting. Nobody ever gave any hint Santa might not be real, but there was also never really a suggestion that he was. I think that was the way to go because it let me draw my own conclusions.

[harriet-wimsey.livejournal.com]

I know we sometimes got gifts from Santa, but I don't remember ever actually believing in him. Which is good, because I had no appreciation of nuance as a kid. If I had believed in Santa, and then been told he wasn't real, it wouldn't have been just a fun Christmas thing I grew out of, I would have been LIED TO and furious. I still very much don't like being made to believe things that aren't true, although I find Santa fun.

[vegablack62.livejournal.com]

I had heard about such kids when I was a kid, but I always wondered if that was real.

When I learned I was sad because Christmas was funner when I believed. The presents were more special if they came from Santa. Afterwards they were just stuff. So I understood that my parents were trying to make Christmas funner, and when I wasn't a little kid anymore I was in on the game. So I wasn't mad. But I had heard about kids who were angry about being lied to. It's interesting to see someone who felt that way.

[vegablack62.livejournal.com]

I have some Christmas icons the name of the LJ user who made them is in the descriptor. I think you can find them by going to my profile page and looking at them.

I found them by goodling LJ christmas icons.

My niece and nephew believe in both Santa and Siterklaas too. Their Dad is Dutch. They think that Sinterklaas only comes for the Dutch kids in the USA, because their cousin doesn't get visited by him.

I think Babysitters Club is part of a conspiracy to take kids childhood away from them as early as possible and make them into teens. I read an account of one that was supposed to be about kindergartners that basicly wanted kids that age to worry about their looks and their weight and to want to be cool.

[kakeochi-umai.livejournal.com]

I never had a defining moment when I "found out", I just grew out of it. I don't even remember which Christmas it was. It was definitely at the very early end of your list, though.

[scionofgrace.livejournal.com]

I and my brothers knew who Santa was, but our parents made it clear that he was imaginary, like the Pevensies or Captain Picard (I grew up a geek, can you tell?). For example, on Christmas morning when gifts were handed out, one of us would be chosen to "be Santa" and hand them around.

That said, I would be worried about any kid who reached the age of ten and still believed in Santa.

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

I figured it out very early upon finding the toy-store boxes in the garage with price tags on them. I figured if elves were making the toys, the boxes wouldn't have price tags on them. That's what I get for being able to read in kindergarten.

Then I asked my mom if God was made up too, because I figured if Santa Claus was on TV, "God" could have "churches" too and still be just something grownups put over on kids... I can still remember my mom going, "NO! OF COURSE NOT!" all worried that I was going to become the only atheist in the Catholic elementary school. :D

[vifetoile.livejournal.com]

I make my own Christmas icons. Then again I make all my own icons so it's moot. But I'll gladly make an icon for you if you request one. :)

I let go of Santa very reluctantly at like the age of twelve. I was pretty sorely hurt. But see, I could have sworn that one Christmas night I'd been sitting up in bed, and had heard the reindeer, and when I got up to check the presents there was a little bell on the floor. I could have sworn.

Also, there was the fact that a year or two earlier (I had been making jewelry around that same time - I used to do it a lot) I actually dedicated the necklace of which I was most proud to Mrs. Claus (with whom I had been in secret communication all year, in her alternate job as the Tooth Fairy*). I wonder what became of that necklace. I do know I was rewarded with the purpliest and fluffiest sweater ever.


* Hey, that was actually a nice lesson. Who says Mrs. Claus has to sit in the kitchen all day?

Incidentally, "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus" is still one of my favorite essays ever.

This is why, when I opened my first grown-up Terry Pratchett book, and I saw that it was dedicated "To everyone who ever wanted to believe," I knew that Pterry and I were kindred spirits to the end of the earth.

[vifetoile.livejournal.com]

I still have that bell, btw.