How old were you when...

[prechrswife]

I was in the third grade. I found out at school, and then went home and asked my mom. I kept pretending at home for awhile, though, because my sister was 5 years younger than me.

[CountryWolf07]

I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade... when I was 10-11 years old.

[Karen]

I don't remember, but I didn't let on, so Lady's Human could keep believing for longer, as he's younger than me. I understood that it was the spirit of the thought that made it special, and still do!

[K9karen]

Huh? Whay'd ya mean there's NO SANTA??????

[Karen]

Huh? Whay'd ya mean there's NO SANTA??????

Don't let anyone tell you that, Karen - there IS a Santa, I promise!

[kitten645]

Funny...my friend has a third grader that found "stocking" presents under her bed. He was devastated but told his mom that he STILL believed in Santa..Just in case...he wanted to hedge his bets and make sure he didn't end up empty handed! LOL!

[Taz_Zoee]

LOL, that's funny Claudia!

I don't remember when I found out either. But I have an older brother and sister so I'm sure they told me at some point.
One year we (for some reason) had Christmas on Christmas Eve. And my parents said they were going to get Santa to come early. We had to stay in another room with knit ski hats pulled down over our faces (don't worry we could breathe). But what my parents didn't know was that I could see through it. So I watched them carry presents into the front room. LOL Oh well. It was still a good Xmas.

[Twisterdog]

I don't remember ever believing in Santa Claus. I'm sure I did as a very young child, but I don't have a memory of it.

I was a practical, analytical child and I'm sure I quit buying the flying reindeer thing at quite a young age. LOL

[slick]

There is a Santa! There is! I just know there's a Santa! Don't say that! Santa lives in the North Pole with elves and all the reindeer and he's going to come to my place in exactly 9 more sleeps!!!!

[Suki Wingy]

I don't remember myself but I know my kids got suspicious when santa used the same wrapping paper that I did, they asked my husband and he was honest with them.

Same for me.
My parents have a "Santa" handwriting that they use to write on the tags, and special tags different from the ones from them. Santa used one wrapping paper one year and then I saw it in my house the some time later, and then about three years later my parents used it to wrap gifts from them. I think I was about 9 but I'm the oldest so we don't say anything. Once, I went to the store to buy stocking candy on Christmas eve, and that was a bad idea. I really like to be surprised on that kind of stuff.

[Zippy]

I think in 3rd grade.After I stopped believing in Santa I desided the Easter Bunny was fake too.

[Lillycat]

I still believe.......

[RipplingWaves55]

I never believed in Santa, nor the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny. My mom never talked me into Santa or anything. I never, evvvvvvvver believed in Santa or any other non-existent person. When I was smart enough to think I knew that Santa wasn't real. My mom never wrote the gifts 'from santa' but Christmas is still my favorite time of year.

I thought it was stupid that some fat guy in a red & white suit would come down my chimney (how can he fit anyway....) and put the presents under my tree & leave on a sleigh, with reindeer flying and pulling him along...

[Marigold2]

OH course there is a Santa, only he will be coming to my house in Jan for that is when our son is coming home. I am always going to believe in Santa. After all he was a real person back in the day

There is a Santa! There is! I just know there's a Santa! Don't say that! Santa lives in the North Pole with elves and all the reindeer and he's going to come to my place in exactly 9 more sleeps!!!!

[sparks19]

The Spirit of Santa truly does exsist. I believe that

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.