Santa

Ruu_Old

Probably posted a few times but coming up til this time of the year, well a a few months yet but im excited anyway When did you find out that "Santy" wasnt real. Was it from a mate, in the school yard or wherever. My next door neighbour was quite a few years older than me, i always thought he was all knowledgeable he told me that Santa was my Mum and Dad. I was there thinking to myself and picturing my Mum and Dad in Santa outfits flying on sleighs, *now how could Mammy and Daddy be Santy* I was so confused haha!

jared almasy

i was 6 and i heard laboured breathing coming from outside my house, i picked up my thomas the tank engine torch and my mini baseball bat and snook downstairs to find my dad trying to wheel a bike into the living room WITH THE BRAKES ON, then the magic ended for me

simu

There was never any earth-shattering moment of revelation for me - it just seemed less and less likely and less of a concern - I was happy as long as I was getting presents from somebody.

Ruu_Old

yeah as long as the presents kept coming, that was a lot of the idea i think for most people

Crucifix

When I read this thread on boards
But yeah, I think I just figured it out with logic, but didn't say anything incase I stopped getting any presents. By the time I worked it out, I didn't think anyone else knew(arrogant for a seven year old).

ferdi

yeah i just figured it out

smuckers

I was 9 at the time, I was devastated.

ixoy

I puzzled it out around seven or so. Santa didn't seem logical....

Now what was amusing was in our Irish reader in 6th class when we were all about 10 or 11, which was divided into chapters. Each chapter marked roughly a week of school term so there was, naturally, a Christmas chapter with an accompanying story. The one for 6th class had the kids waking up on Christmas and opening their presents. One of the questions was: "Who do you think really gave the kids the presents?" (obviously it was as Gaeilge). Now we all answered Mum and Dad but one girl, bless her, genuinely answered Santa and we all, after a moments mirth, realized the Irish reader had ruined Santa on her....

Now let's leave with the Santa song:

Bow down! Bow down!
Before the power of Santa!
Or be crushed! Be crushed!
... By his jolly boots of doom!

Ruu_Old

i expect to see the Santa grotto set up in Navan shopping centre when i go up next week, they always have it there really early *bumps the kids out of the way to join the queue*

Rozabeez

eh....what do you mean by "not real"?
lol jk, yeah i just kinda figured it out

Ruu_Old

remember on the RTE news bulletin and like 9pm Christmas Eve, they would always say "Santa is due to arrive in Ireland tonight around midnight" or something to that affect

jared almasy

yeh, they used to show some schmuck in a sled being pulled by a couple of mangy dogs, and anne doyle/brian dobson would say "santa has just left...etc" sad, but in the heady hedonistic days of my toddlerhood it was entirely believable

thejuggler

They still do that! I think its the same footage every year though.

sanncoo

I remember visiting my friends house on Christmas morning, we kind of all went round and showed each other what we got...plus to see if someone got something better. She was at Mass and her mother told me to come in and wait. She said something along the lines of 'Saundra got a bike for Christmas, she thinks it came from Santa. I can't believe she still believes.....' I looked at her with big green eyes, on the verge of tears and said....I believed it did too! I never saw anyone look so sheepish!!!

Ruu_Old

ah Mass!! hated that so early in the morning when i was playing with my toys. One year i got one of them mechano, or whatever they are. I was making some sort of a crane thing, something with a pulley and was boasting to everyone of how great it was, then i was told to get ready for Mass, grr!!

Hearing from other people about Santa hurts so bad

smoke.me.a.kipper

just sort of figured it out. that and the fact that the 'stuff were throwing out' black bags i saw before christmas actually contained loads of unopened lego boxes.

Makaveli

I was always a nosy little bastard and used to go looking for presents.
So, it didn't take me very long to realise what was going on.

Ruu_Old

i always wondered why my parents went off shopping without me some days before Christmas. I always wanted to go everywhere but i wasnt allowed this time! *stomps* I started to get nosey also. A mate of mine used to know months in advance where his presents were, cos his parents got his things way before Christmas

Lyra

I figured it out when my Mum wrote my name on my pressie and didn't disguise her handwriting and I recognised it, but didn't pretend for a couple of years after that, it was too much fun getting Santa pressies and pressies from my parents too!!

LoneGunM@n

I found out in school, then confronted my Dad about it ... he tried the old lie, "of course there's a Santa", but it didn't work!! My Mam was more upset than I had been. I have a little sis, so I was warned I'd be murdered if I told her

Ruu_Old

something like what i remember Lyra, my younger brother got one of them magic writing pad things. We had left out lemonade and some biscuits that nite which were half eaten and i recognised my Mums writing on the pad, said something like "thanks for the lemonade..." etc, i tried to pretend that it was really Santa but i couldnt

Santa Claus

Ruu wrote:

When did you find out that "Santy" wasnt real.

Hang on there a minute.....when did I cease to exist ????
Did you continue to send me letters and I didn't deliver...NO!
Write a letter and I will sort it out (Within reason, if I get another letter asking for a night with Kylie Minogue.....).

I'm accepting requests on boards this year even :
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=1971036

Santa (who does exists....or else how would I be typing this ??)

Ruu_Old

does that mean i wont be getting any presents this year? :eek:

littleninja

Just figured it out really, my mother has 2 sisters and we kinda spend Christmas in one house each year (1st year would be our house, next my aunt's house and the year after that my other aunt's house etc etc). Myself and my brother were the youngest of the 6 kids, so the older kids would take advantage and still get presents so the illusion wouldn't be spoiled for us!!!

One year in particular though, "Santa" (our dad) was in the pub on Christmas Eve night and was kinda drunk whilst delivering the presents, he tripped over something in the room (or bashed against the side of the bunk bed we had borrowed from our granny for Christmas time with everyone coming to stay over on Christmas day for a few days) and had to leg it out of the room.

With the result of both myself and my younger brother waking up and opening the presents that had been left. I had got George the robot - the one you could programme to roll across the floor and do different things like go round in circles and generally make loads of beepy roboty sounds. So we raced into our parents bedroom going "look Santa came" and proceding to play with said noisy toys in their bedroom at 2am on Christmas Day....

Oh the fun of Christmas when you're a child *sigh*

sanncoo

So Santa still exists.....

A hex on all those who ruined our childhood, pushing us unceremoniously into an age of less innocence!

Naos

unfortun i too was told by a friend who got a bit of a scolding of his mother. I remember leaving his house and thinkin about it. Kinda messed it up for me, just thinking the magic was gone etc...

But i've had a kid bro whos 8 and still believes in santa so its cool, and its great seein the little kids showing you their crap sayin "I seen him as well, seen his sleigh" ..

ahh christmas, love it, atmosphere etc..

Sarky

I saw my dad in Woolworths with that old board game Ghost Castle one November. He said it was for another family. That Christmas my little brother got a Ghost Castle from Santa. The game was afoot.

I must admit, I was impressed by the stealth abilities of my parents. In order to get to the sitting room (where the chimney was), they had to pass right by my room down a creaky hall, open two doors, and get back to bed, all within a tiny timeframe (We ALL got up ridiculously early to try and catch the Fat Man himself back in the day...). I didn't think they had it in them. Bloody ninjas, I tell you.

SantaHoe

Sarky wrote:

I saw my dad in Woolworths with that old board game Ghost Castle one November. He said it was for another family. That Christmas my little brother got a Ghost Castle from Santa. The game was afoot.

LOL, yeah that sounds pretty familiar
One year I was brought around the shops along with my brothers and sister, and my parents were buying toys, and I was all like "er wtf you doing?"... they told me they were just getting the empty boxes to show santy what we wanted!!
I'm the youngest in my family, my other siblings most likely knew at the time, so I guess it was a mix of being open about it with 3 kids while trying to keep the youngest one in the dark.

Needless to say I figured it out very early in life... so early that I can't remember what age I was... in fact, I can't really remember ever believing... altough I do remember a few times going to see santa at the local shopping center, and knowing that he was some guy dressed up... of couse you keep up the whole charade so you can get your crappy pound-shop toy at the end of it. :rolleyes:

When my parents and siblings found out that I knew, they were trying to reassure me, going "no, no, he IS real, blah blah blah"... I remember they were so concerned about me because I was a bit annoyed, but (this I remember very clearly) I was annoyed with them for patronising me... trying to convince me of something that I know 100% is untrue... at the time I couldn't have given two shíts about santa, real or not.
But the more they tried to convince me, the more annoyed I got, which sort of fed on itself in a loop until they gave up.

My sister told me once that when she found out as a kid, she was really píssed off because she was lied to all those years.

smuckers

My bro was telling me when he was 8 he wanted Monchechies (little monkees) On Christmas Eve he was going up the stairs and he discovered my Aunt and my mum wrapping them in a parcel, they fobbed him off with some story about how they were minding them for Santa but he didn't buy it.
I never used to go to mass Christmas day, always used to go Christmas Eve, that way I could open my presents without any hassle of rushing.

Ruu_Old

Parents really gave the most awful excuses

petals

My big bro told me when I was about nine or ten but he also said if I played it cool I'd be able to get extra pressies for a few more years so when I was twelve mam sat me down and did the whole I've something to tell you talk but I already knew