STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

jen · Kate Spade

When did you stop believing in Santa?

rosie_the_riveter · Gucci

I always knew that it was my parents that bought us presents. They figured they worked too hard to give someone else the credit. We did use him in our Chirstmas decor though

halleybird · Hermes

I think I learned from a Ramona Quimby book...

ETA: I think I was about 7? (I guess I was a late bloomer, LOL)

-- Edited by halleybird at 20:50, 2005-11-27

HeatherLynn · Gucci

halleybird wrote:

I think I learned from a Ramona Quimby book... ETA: I think I was about 7? (I guess I was a late bloomer, LOL)-- Edited by halleybird at 20:50, 2005-11-27

Haha I remember that!!! I use to love Ramona.

I learned probably about the same age. I was so sad when I found out. However, I still get Santa gifts.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

I think I was 7ish. It wasn't a shock since I already knew my parents went out shopping and we weren't allowed in their closet during the holidays. Though every year when those presents appeared on Christmas morning under the tree, it was still magical! When I have kids I will not lie about Santa. I will tell them he once existed long time ago, but he did not deliver gifts all around the world in one night! Oh, and also that he did not have a sleigh that flew in the sky by flying reindeer!

CarrieS · Marc Jacobs

I've never actually believed in Santa. My bro and I knew from the beginning that it was Mom and Dad who put the presents under the tree. We didn't care though, since where our presents came from didn't matter, as long as we got them!

Christmas morning was still magical though, seeing all the packages under the tree. My parents would wait until Christmas Eve to put 95% of them under the tree, so it was a big surprise in the morning

NCshopper · Hermes

I think I was about 7 or so as well, although I don't remember one specific moment where I realized there was no Santa. I think I must have pieced two and two together and figured it out after awhile.

To me, it wasn't a traumatic thing. Christmas was still wonderful. I still get presents from Santa too. And our pets always manage away to buy me something as well.

Hermione · Kate Spade

well i guess I am the late bloomer here! i'm not sure exactly how old i was but i think it was about ten

i figured it out b/c i had guessed about the tooth fairy, and decided to test my theory. when i lost my very last tooth (i didn't know it would be the last) i didn't tell my mom, and lo and behold, although i had put it underneath my pillow, there was no quarter in the morning and the tooth was still there.

i told my mom and she said "sometimes she might be busy!"

lol, whatever, she was never busy before!

after that i just sortof figured that none of the other stuff was real either - my mom would not admit to me though that santa wasn't real until i was seventeen years old. it was ridiculous.

anyway, i loved believing in santa. my mom's parents didn't tell her about santa b/c her mom didn't want to lie to her and my mom was always sortof sad about that so she told us all about that stuff. i miss those magical times and my wild imagination! i want to make sure my kids have that while they can, so i'm definitely telling them about santa and easter bunny etc!

Maddie · Coach

I must have been a really dumb child, I think I found out around 3rd grade. It was kind of a gradual revelation, but I remember what really sealed it for me was when one of the girls from my Girl Scout troop pulled us all aside and told us her mom had admitted there was no Santa. I don't remember being upset about it at all. It was kinda disappointing, but I pretty much already knew. And any disappointment was totally it worth cause it was so exciting while it lasted. To this day my sister and I get mad at my mom if she tries to act like there's no Santa. We still make our parents fill our stocking and give us presents from Santa in the middle of the night.

Maddie · Coach

NCshopper wrote:

And our pets always manage away to buy me something as well.

Haha, my cats and dog also always manage to do a little Christmas shopping. I'm perpetually in awe of how good they are at wrapping presents, they don't even have hands! Amazing.

esquiress · Marc Jacobs

i remember doubting santa's existence when i was about six and then waking up christmas morning and under the tree were all these presents from my mom and dad and none from santa. so i thought that proved it but then i went back to the tree and there was this long package from santa that wasn't there before and i remember skipping around and running to my dad who was shaving in the bathroom and crying "papa, papa, santa does exist!" lol, i don't know why that long package five minutes later convinced me but for some reason it did. by the way, the lpackage was full of markers, you know those skinny ones in every color you can think of? that was my santa gift.

i still think back on that and really appreciate all the effort my parents went to for me. we'd only moved to the usa a year before and i thought it was so sweet that even though christmas wasn't their culture or what they were familiar with, they went to such an effort to help me to experience the magic of the holiday. aww...

oh as for finding out santa wasn't real, i think it was gradual. i do remember in third grade was in the girl's bathroom and some other girl was saying santa didn't exist and i remember thinking i already knew that. no idea how, but whatever.

jacL · Coach

My mom told me the truth about the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus just after Easter when I was eight, in second grade. I was totally surprised but took it very well. She said I couldn't tell any of my friends because their parents had to be the one to tell them, and I didn't. I remember the year after, in third grade, a bunch of my classmates still believed and then I wished I still believed too. I can't believe so many people found out at such early ages, because I was one of the first of my friends to know.

Haha, one of my ex-BFs believed in Santa til he was in sixth grade! I have no idea why or how.

laken1 · Hermes

This is so funny! I guess I stopped believing in about 2nd grade or so? But I didn't tell my parents that I knew for a couple years either because my Mom always told me that if you didn't believe you wouldn't get presents. So she & I have never talked about it. The only memory I have of letting them either of my parents know is that I got a stuffed Snoopy doll - most of you are too young to remember the whole Snoopy craze, but it was a cool dress up snoopy & he had a girl alter ego, belle - ANYWAY, I told my Dad thank you for the Snoopy doll. He said "don't thank me, thank Santa" & I said something like "same difference" & I remember him tearing up. So sweet!

I am 33 & my sister is 36 & we still get Santa presents. my Mom still wraps our presents in all one kind of paper that only "santa" has. We even have my 4 & 6 year old nieces convinced that Santa comes to Grandma's for us the night before Christmas because we are grown ups & he doesn't have time to bring presents to us on Christmas night too! So they think he comes to my mom's house for us that day. Are we sick? I never thought about it being mean lying to them. I spent the few years between me getting divorced & remarried at my sister's & saw her kids wake up to Santa presents. To me, that is the real magic of Christmas & I LOVE the innocence of them believing. One year my niece was so excited that I was staying because I could help her catch Santa - in her words, we could "scoop him up in a net" WTF?

Kel · Coach

Now, this i remember. I think i was 5 or 6 because my brother who was like 10 at the time told me. So I went rushing to my mom and I said something like "so there is no santa huh?" and she said "if you still want present, you better still believe there is a santa." And from there on my brother and I would hunt for our christmas presents in my parents closets. We used to also trade information about gifts, since we both knew what the other got most of the time, he would tell me one gift that my parents got me and and I would tell him one that my parents got him.

Boy, I wish I was still a kid.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

When i was in about first grade and met jewish people at school (I guess I was about 7?). They told me there was no santa. :( Then my grandma confirmed it. I still wanted to believe so badly though! I was in denial for soooo long- until like 2 years ago when Mom sent me out to do her shopping! lol!

Now I play Santa for my brothers and sisters since Mom is so busy and there aren't good stores around them- it's way fun! Ever since I started doing that I have really appreciated the giving angle of christmas more.

JoceyBaby23 · Gucci

I never believed. I was WAY too terrified of him for my mother to let me believe that some strange man was going to be inside my house. I was also afraid of the Easter Bunny. I used to tell my mom that I wanted my easter basket left outside because I didnt want some crazy, huge bunny in my house. (This was when I was like 2 by the way!)

Christine · Coach

I stopped believing when I was about 8 -- from reading a Judy Blume book (w/ Peter and his little brother, "Fudge", IIRC). Anyway, I asked my mom if Santa was real, and she said, "What do you think?" And I said, "No." And then I said, "The tooth fairy and the Easter bunny aren't real either, are they........?"

It was a little disappointing, and part of me still wishes I believed in Santa. It's the best feeling as a child, not being able to fall asleep b/c you are waiting for Santa to come and listening for him. If I have kids I will certainly not deny them that magical excitement that I once felt.

Bastet · Kate Spade

I figured it out when I was 7. I remember doubting it because I didn't always mail Santa lists, and he always knew exactly what I wanted. On Christmas morning, I asked my uncle if santa was real and he said "Nope." I think my mom was annoyed at him for telling me, but now we all laugh about how up front he was about it.

(I figured the easter bunny out when I was 3. I don't remember it, but apparently at the mall, I saw a man's wrist sticking out between the white glove and the end of the costume's sleeve and started yelling, "This isn't the easter bunny! It's a *man* in a *costume*!" really loudly, and my mom had to get me out of the mall asap so I didn't ruin it for the other kids. I was such a darling child. )

Hermione · Kate Spade

you know, i never believed that the mall santa clauses and easter bunnies were real, though i did believe in santa and the easter bunny themselves

weird!

blink · Coach

my parents never attempted to make me believe in Santa, but I it's not like they came out and said he didn't exist. I vividly recall thinking that other kids my age were pretty naive for believing in Santa, though I wasn't 100% sure, so I never argued the point. My suspicions were confirmed when my Kindergarten teacher actually came out and said there was no such thing!!