That's lovely. That's how I explained it to my daughter, only not as well. I faffed and said "Christmas Spirit" far far too many times but that ^^^ is what I meant..

And it's true. I do get very excited about Christmas. I LOVE doing the mince pie and Norad tracking and all that goes with keeping it alive. The other year when - what was it? A comet? I forget... Passed by on Xmas Eve - we were all out in the garden watching 'Santa' and I actually had to remind myself that it wasn't actually...I was hopping up and down

And well done for keeping the thought alive . Its good to be excited !!! Now you have made me excited too !

Susie, you have the same analytical mind as my granddaughter, aged four, who calmly told me as much last week when I explained that Father Christmas was going to leave some of her presents at my house and I'd pop along with them.
Then she swore me to secrecy as "we don't want to ruin it for mummy and daddy."
I'm off there shortly with the parcels and she and I will play along.

I was 7 or 8 and had my suspicions.
On Christmas Eve I connected cotton to my Father Christmas sack at the bottom of the bed, and tied it around my wrist.
Then when my Dad and Uncle came in to fill the sack, the pulling on the cotton around my wrist woke me, and whilst playing "asleep" I saw who it was.

But to slightly confuse matters in the morning we had to travel a few miles in the car, there had been snow overnight and in the snow was a Father Christmas delivering presents.
To this young lad it was magical, so maybe I was wrong?

I think parents can keep it going during Primary School they have done well.
Aged 10 or 11 seems a good time to tell them.

D'oh. Sorry. brain.

I like the sound of him! I think I must have been very slow on the uptake. Myself and my sister were absolutely convinced we saw the sleigh in the sky out through the letterbox one Christmas Eve. In fact, if I'm honest, I'm still not 100% sure that we didn't.


Well we'll be tracking Norad tracking Santa all day tomorrow as usual. Denial, I think it's called.

I remember believing in Santa up to a point. I can't actually remember when it stopped nor can I remember the actual circumstances of how I knew. I don't ever think there was some dramatic reveal, I think I just convinced myself.

I remember hearing quite a lot of noise down in the living room one Xmas Eve & was sure it was Santa. Mum & Dad were in bed & to this day I have no idea what caused all that commotion.


As an aside, I noticed a big shift in their Xmas lists this year now they both know. Boy always had reams, just list upon list, of expensive stuff and I'd have to send him away to get it whittled down by 3 1/2 pages - "I'm putting an XBox AND WiiU on there, Mum. C'mon it's Santa. He can get you anything. " Once he actually pulled out and stapled together some pages from the Argos catalogue: "All of that." Completely taking the hand out of Santa. He is mercenary sort so I expected this year for him to chance his arm with us but he surprised me with the most conservative list yet - just a couple of board games, a teddy and a (A! ) PS4 game. You coulda knocked us down with a feather!

Daughter on the other hand never would have been so bold to write a list, she always wrote Santa a nice letter and said she'd like a [small present] and a surprise "if you think I've been good enough. " This year she had the confidence to give us a pretty decent list. Or is getting the arm in. Think she may have inherited my belief in a vengeful Santa.

I can't ever remember thinking Santa was real. Even aged 5 or 6 I can remember us all standing around at the school Christmas party debating whether it was Mr Nutter (the headmaster) or Mr Champion (the caretaker) inside the Santa suit. I've always appreciated the magic of Santa though, and don't think that he (or the idea of him!) exists for nothing.

I'd rather my kids were the ones to tell me that Santa wasn't real than me have to tell them, but I was always ready to step in and say something before secondary school if it had been necessary. All of mine had figured it out for themselves way before then. You can usually tell how much mileage is left in their belief by the reaction you get when they're playing up just before Christmas and you eye the phone saying you'll be ringing Santa and telling him not to come! Thinking about it, any last shreds of doubt were probably removed for my older kids when Santa got a mince pie and a bottle of alcohol free lager the year I was expecting their sister

When my youngest was about nine, she told me that her wobbly tooth had fallen out, adding 'It's funny how the tooth fairy's writing is just like yours in the replies she leaves to my letters!'. I said 'You just want the quid now then?'. She just burst out laughing and said 'Okay!' I did make her promise not to tell the little kids next door though. I thought it best not to tell her just how many of her tooth fairy letters I've still got stashed away - it's safe to assume she was never that sentimental about mine

I find that quite sad that wee tots don't believe in Santa. It's one of the few magical experiences left for kids. They grow up so quickly nowadays & I fear we'll soon have a generation of jaded youngsters. *sighs*

Santa is real, so there!

my second oldest grandson believed until he was 11 ♥

"all my friends said he`s not real but they believe in god and i don`t so......"

For me it was probably around 6 or 7. I vaguely recall that it simply came up in a conversation at school with a friend. It's not really a traumatic event, just a natural part of growing up. I had a younger brother, so we basically kept up the pretense for his sake. I don't recall when he eventually found out.

I think most kids will find out at school and I'm actually quite surprised that there's numerous posts here saying some kids don't find out until between 10-12. These children either live very sheltered lives, or they already know and simply don't want to confront their parents!

I think the "magic" flows both ways, parents like to believe that their children still believe.

About the time I stopped believing in God - eight or so.

My parents let me work it out for myself.

As we were poor they told us when we were older (six-ish) that they sent presents to Father Christmas to deliver (in case we wanted something so very expensive they could not afford it so we would not be disappointed).

But I loved Christmas then - it was purely magical.

Nowadays some kids get half a bloody toyshop plus all the gadgets and still want more.

I'll tell the dog tomorrow that that new squeaky toy was a present from father Christmas. He'll be none the wiser but he's still smarter than most kids.

I never believed anyway!

It is sad. However, in the grand scheme of things it is quite unimportant.

How many adults do you know who were traumatised by the reveal that Santa was imaginary?

Not many I would think. I can't even remember how I found out....probably from my older brother, who is sadly no longer with us.

However, I can vividly remember my first period at the age of 12, even though I knew what it was....it was still unsettling.

The kids running around the playground saying Santa isn't real are carrying out an important public service. They should get a certificate or something.

You old perve. F'nar! F'nar!...

My mother has never told me Santa isnt real. She literally just carried on pretending right through my teens.

I found out at around 5, when my older brother ran into the bedroom to tell me as he'd seen Dad putting the presents under the tree.

With Jr it's difficult, or complicated - as she's 16 with the mental age of about 8, she believes in Santa but also knows that I buy presents. She knows her music teacher is Santa at school. She seems able to accommodate the knowledge of some of the realities of Christmas and yet maintain the fantasy too. She wants the PNP video from Santa, wants to track him, to leave out an apple and milk for the reindeer, yet isn't oblivious to the fact that I buy presents and that they cost money.

I tried telling her in November that Santa wasn't real, but it didn't really sink in so I decided to leave her be and let her enjoy Christmas in her own way.


I remember my first period too as I didn't know what the hell it was, nobody - parents, school - had told me anything about the human body, periods, the facts of life, nothing. I was 11.

Personally I don't agree with outright lying to your children. If you can't even be trusted to tell the truth about something as pointless as Christmas, how can you expect your children to trust you to tell the truth about important things? I've got no idea why so many parents don't think their kids can't enjoy fantasy and myths unless they think it's reality. I think some of you don't give your kids enough credit.

I think you should let children be children a little while longer.

I dont know any child who has grown up feeling ****ed up because their parents pretended santa was real.

My parents never told me he was real and I wasn't ****ed up either. Remember several kids in the playground feeling a bit of a plank when i told them the truth though.
Funny, I've never equated being a child with being indoctrinated with stupid and pointless lies.

You were never told he was real yet you're the only person on here who is angry! Perhaps if you'd had more of the fun and myth of Xmas as a child you'd be a happier adult

Make believe is a part of our lives, as children and as adults - we watch TV and films throughout our lives, read books, absorb ourselves in stories for a period of time.

No idea why you would think I didn't have happy Christmases as a child. Maybe because you can't seem to cope with children enjoying it unless they think santa is real. Christmas is much more than santa to me, presents, a good party, family and friends getting together, good stuff on telly, pretty lights and trees etc. It makes me feel kind of sorry for you if you don't think kids can enjoy any of that if they know the difference between fantasy and reality.