How did you find out that Santa Claus was...?

lazeedaisy

lazeedaisy wrote: »

My sister told us all, she was 13, brother was 12, sister was 11, I was 10 and baby was 8, she took us to the attic and showed us...

Ths was before the Easter bunny, waaaayyy before...

Siblings are the very worst offenders.

Whitewinged

I was about 8 or 9. I had seen and heard a few things that made me question it.

My mother popped out to the neighbours house so I decided to start looking for things. Went into her bedroom and opened the top press of the fitted wardrobes. I saw two bags and ended up pulling all the toys down on top of myself.

Had a quick realisation and panic that my mother could be back any second. I ran to the window and she was chatting to someone in the garden. Shouted to my brother whose 5 years older to "help" because i couldnt reach the shelf properly to get the toys back in. He ran up the stairs and gave me a look as if to say "what have you done?". He quickly threw all the toys back into the wardrobe. Only one of the many times that he saved me from getting into trouble.

Fr_Dougal

I was about 15...repeating my mock Junior Cert exams...dark times...

MilesMorales1

I was 11, just gone into secondary. I had a pretty big argument with someone in my new year 7 class about the existence of Father christmas, to the extent that the teacher called my mum in, and she told me on the way home.

Absolutely gutted I Am was

tonto24

I was 9 i think, new bike for xmas on the way, looked out the window xmas eve morning, my bro decided he would take it for a spin around the garden. D%ickhead

podgemonster

I was staying in my aunts house after school one day. It was coming into the Christmas season but my aunt didn't care for cartoons. She'd leave the telly set on RTE 1, so she'd never miss the news and hide the remote.

On that particular afternoon there was an RTE show where they addressed Television complaints from the public, it was on between Live@3 and the Nuacht.

It was December and the show played a clip from EastEnders where another parent accuses another of telling their child their is no Santa Claus, the accused parent said that the whole thing was sentimental nonsense. The clip stops and the programme then reads out 2 to 3 letters from the public complaining about revealing the truth to children about St. Nick. Finally the segment concludes with a short debate on when is the right time to tell kids that Santy isn't real.

I remember sitting there on my aunts spotless carpet floor, my jaw clenched in shock. I wasnt sure what just happened, everything I had know had been a lie and the box in the corner of the room that had been my friend for so long had just kicked me in the teeth. I was 7.

Cb9

When I was 4 I decided to stay awake all night at christmas to see santa. I just saw my ma and eldest brother putting the presents at the end of the bed, and pretended to be asleep. I told my ma I knew about it christmas morning, she was surprised I wasn't crying or screaming about, I didn't really care too much for some reason, just accepted it and moved on.

DA7800

I was 9 when I found out. I had my suspicions anyway, but I overheard a phone conversation between my parents that confirmed it for me. I talked to my mum afterwards, she said that she had a feeling that I had known.

The following year, when my sister was 9, I had a big argument about the existence of Santa Clause. I figured since she was the same age now as I was when I found out, she should know too. So after about 5 minutes of childish squabbling, she said "so prove it" and I took her to where the Christmas presents were hidden... she swore she would say nothing, but half an hour later I got a lash across the backside and was told that I ruined Christmas.

Whenever I think of how my sister found out I cringe and remember how much of a disgusting human being I am, particularly because I did it just out of a need to be right about it.

pappyodaniel

pappyodaniel wrote: »

I don't think I ever got over the trauma of finding out that Santa was a lie. When you think about it, it's kind of a messed up thing to do to a child.

Perhaps - I would not like to judge really - but I know for me it is not something I am doing with my kids - or intend to do with my future kids. I just will not be doing the Santa thing with them at all.

_Kaiser_

Great OP.

I can't remember exactly when I found out/realised though but I'm gonna say mid-80s when I was 10. I remember getting a pile of Transformers that year

Like the OP's mother, my mam worked damn hard to look after 2 young kids (in a foreign country no less as we'd moved to Holland for a few years because of the economic situation at home) and she worked all sorts of crazy hours on shift to provide for us, which meant that I frequently had to get myself and my sister to school and back with only a neighbour to keep an occasional eye on things (imagine the horror now if you suggested that! :rolleyes:)

Although I didn't realise it at the time, as I've gotten older I've come to appreciate just how hard it must have been on her (she was only in her late 20s herself at the time) and even when she got sick and we had to come home, she still scrimped and saved from her invalidity pension so that we both got the chance to go to college and provide for ourselves.

She passed away a few months back after a long drawn-out and finally painful illness, but she beat all the odds (when she was originally diagnosed they gave her 6 months) and although we had plenty of arguments too over the years, I'll always be thankful for the sacrifices she made for us.

Kovu

I think I was 9 or 10 and Dad had lost his job earlier in the year so things were tight. Ran down early Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought, there was one wrapped box beside the fireplace. I didn't mind, I was and am an outdoor person with a good imagination so anything was a toy/potential game.
However, Mum had used the wrapping paper which was in the press (which I had used only a day or two before) and I put two and two together in about ten seconds. Asked my parents when they got up and they just looked at me sorta sadly and nodded.

LoonyLovegood

I was eight. My little sister had to get a tooth removed on Christmas eve, so I was sitting bored in the waiting room. Asked the kid beside me what was she getting off Santa, and got "I went shopping with my Mom, Santa's not real!" I was sitting on my own, Mam was in with my sister, and I just froze. Didn't tell Mam until almost a week later, and she just hugged me because it was probably the cruelest day to tell someone.

Although I'm 21 now, the youngest at home is 15, I've moved out (as has my sister) and we still do Santa. We write a list, Mam and Dad buy stuff, but we've no idea what we'll get. It's the best time of year.

RhubarbCrumble

lc180 wrote: »

I was about 7 or 8, my older next door neighbour told me the craic, he thought he was way cool being in the know and telling everyone.

This person grew up to be a d**k, who would have guessed!

Similar enough story here. I was in second class, just turned eight and one little f****r in the class went around asking if we believed in Santa. We all said yes (we were all about 7 and 8 and this was the late 1980's so 99% of us were still believing at that age) and he told us that we were stupid, there was no such thing as Santa and your parents bought the presents.

Not surprisingly he grew up to be a d**k as well. What a surprise!

Shenshen

Bit of a different story here, I grew up somewhere that doesn't do Santa Claus. Our parents used to tell us the presents were brought by the baby Jesus, but even that was always very obviously tongue in cheek. Nobody ever thought to turn it into this big thing that you'd want children to believe in.
The Easter Bunny, on the other hand, they put a lot of work in making us believe. Particularly my grandfather, who thought it was the best laugh ever making us try and find it or even catch it. Elaborate Easter Bunny traps and all that.
But I stopped believing those stories when I was around 6, I think. Can't remember still believing when I started school.

So, I will read the OP's question as "When did you find out that Santa was .... actually a huge deal in some countries?" - So that was in 2002 when I came over here. I was 28 at the time.

Hammer89

LoonyLovegood wrote: »

I was eight. My little sister had to get a tooth removed on Christmas eve, so I was sitting bored in the waiting room. Asked the kid beside me what was she getting off Santa, and got "I went shopping with my Mom, Santa's not real!" I was sitting on my own, Mam was in with my sister, and I just froze. Didn't tell Mam until almost a week later, and she just hugged me because it was probably the cruelest day to tell someone.

Oh god. That's extremely sad.

whatismyname

Don't think I ever really believed deep down to be honest.

Might be something to do with quite stupid parents who left the price tags from the shop nearby on the selection boxes, so it was clear they'd actually been bought there. Oh and even when quite young I could identify that the writing on the piece of paper on top of each pile of toys with the name of who they were for was my father's writing.

Both of those meant I always basically knew deep down it was a sham, but of course I kept 'believing' cos as a child, you want to believe, don't you...?

Oh and another factor may have been getting really upset by my alcoholic mother getting wasted and ruining each Christmas day, and her then telling me what an ungrateful child I was getting upset at her on Christmas day after she'd got me my Christmas presents.

Oops, I may have lowered of the thread. I'll leave now...

Crumpets

Mammy used the same wrapping paper for my Santy presents as she did for daddy's present from her. I was 9.

MilesMorales1

Believing in father christmas is so magical. I wish I still believed.

seanaway

pappyodaniel wrote: »

I don't think I ever got over the trauma of finding out that Santa was a lie. When you think about it, it's kind of a messed up thing to do to a child. The fantasy is all well and good but the kid is gonna find out eventually and is probably going to resent you for lying to them and making them feel stupid.

Santa Claus is a crock of sh!t but in some ways he makes about as much sense as what they tell you in the Bible.

Jesus, you must be some craic at the Christmas do.

AllGunsBlazing

I twigged it around the age of 8 - a good two years before my parents were any the wiser. Devious fecker that I am.

lycan238

I too knew a few years before I let on. I was in first year after Christmas when I let on. We still do the 'Santa' thing but now its a secret santa between me and both my parents. We each spend €30 on each others presents so I spend €60 30x2. it works for us.

Jude13

DA7800 wrote: »

...Whenever I think of how my sister found out I cringe and remember how much of a disgusting human being I am, particularly because I did it just out of a need to be right about it.

Chin up kid, the fact that you realize that you may have been wrong to do it shows you have learnt.

I can't remember what age I found out, my brother told me. I was quite young so I went along with it a year or tow more. Although I do remember calling may parents liars constantly after I found out, kids eh.

Also, I should have sopped on earlier as Santa had a "budget" in our house. I was the 80's and like all the people we knew we were skint. Still my folks always put on an amazing show.

OneArt

I think I may have believed in Santa around 5/6 but I don't remember it being very strong.

I always assumed reindeers weren't real because Santa's could fly. So they were like unicorns to me.

Imagine the horror when we drove past a reindeer farm. Did this mean aliens were real too? I lived for a good few years in the fear of being abducted and dissected.

Padster90s

While I'm here again might as well throw in how my neighbours found out! Santa used to leave their presents in a separate Christmas bag thing for each of them, on Christmas morning, one of them got up early and took all the good presents(MegaJoy...classic 90s stuff like that) and put them in his bag. Ructions ensued when the rest got up and discovered they had gotten sh1ty presents! They we're fighting and their mother came in to separate them, she told them she and their father left out the presents and told who got what! Always laugh thinking about it, massive family fight and finding out Santa wasn't real on Christmas morning!!

Optimalprimerib

Right from when i knew the value of money, i knew that my parents bought the presents, but santa delivered them, so if it was a poor year, we would not get as much. this was because we went to a certain shop to pick the present we wanted.

That said i still believed in santa for some reason and when i was told i was devestated and felt duped.

The strange thing was that i never believed in the tooth fairy or easter bunny, but santa was a different beast entirely and even though my sister told me time and time again, it was not until i was sat down by my parents that the truth hit home.

Thinking back, it was probably worse for them as they also had a revelation on how dumb their son really was.

NormalBob Ubiquitypants

I figured it out before my older brother. I was 6 and he was 9. I remember there was something on the TV about making kids believe in Santa and how to trick them into it. Between that and the price tag left on the back of a Beano from our local shop one year... Said it to my mother but she refused to give me a straight answer, "Xmas is a magical time" etc. She knew and I knew that it was horse sh*t.
I was told not to say anything to my brother who actually figured it out a few weeks later. The funny thing was my mother told him not to say anything to me. Maybe she thought I would forget or something. For the next few years my brother and relations would say things on Xmas day like "did you hear the bells last night?" or "I heard hooves". All my relatives thought it was adorable whereas my mother knew well. She used to throw some eye at me. Definition of private joke.

There was one guy in secondary school and he still believed. I remember him taken out of class devastated one day. Bawling he was.

Easter bunny and the tooth fairy meant nothing to me ever. Still went through the performance though the rules were different.
Easter: You get one egg and not something that costs a ridiculous amount of money.
Tooth Fairy: I didn't have a £1 coin so here is 5 20p coins.

Pingi

I was just turned 9 and was at a friends house, I asked her what she was getting from Santy and her mother heard me and says to her husband "hahaha do you hear that Jimmy? she still believes in Santa Claus" what a wicket *****

They were posh and mean with presents to there daughter so I guess it was easier for them to be like that. My mother went APE

Kevhog1988

i remember being told when i was no more than 5 by the prick of a chap up the road. Mother & father smoothed that over by telling us he was a liar etc. Father had a bad accident when i was 8 or so. He was out of work and we were only getting the sick pay or whatever whereas he usually worked a second job for cash too. Christmas was quiet enough that year and i remember my mother crying on christmas morning. That fairly confirmed it for me tbh.

Kerplunk124

Found a receipt from Smyths in one of my presents. think i was about 9

retro:electro

I found all my brothers and sisters old letters stuffed in a bag in my mam's room, but I'm thick and I still didn't cop. Then I saw my mam and sister bringing in the presents from the boot of the car into the house and then the penny dropped. I didn't let on for another year though. There is something sad about the first Christmas without Santa.