Who told you Santa wasn't real..

[mummmy2017]

Who told you Santa wasn't real.. What age
Mine was siblings. About 6 years old.
My eldest said 7 children in playground and there being many santa-claus in shops.
Youngest was in infants her sister told her.
What about everyone else?

Troll alert everyone.

Reported.

I have never seen anything so horrific during all my years on mumsnet.

Ha ha troll, am I..
Been on here for years as you will see if you bothered to look.
I asked as there was another thread on here about santa gifts.

Santa not real?! Pffft.

Can't remember but sussed it out when my DM, as she was so ill with 'flu, had forgotten to remove the price labels on everything when she wrapped them.

And no, I can't be bothered to look.

I am far too busy polishing my DH's sleigh bells.

[santa]

Can't remember exactly

I think I was 10 (a month short of 11) and I just realised it myself, no-one actually told me. A friend tried to tell me when I was 8, but I didn't believe her, I was adamant that Santa was real

By around 8 or 9 I was pretty sure Santa wasn't real, just had my suspicions. Confirmed by a teacher though - somehow class discussion was 'who has done something really naughty and felt guilty about it?' and a boy said he had told his little brother Santa wasn't real. Teacher responded with something which confirmed the truth of his statement - something along the lines of 'oh that was mean, nice to let you get brothers and sisters believe'! A couple of kids in the class definitely didn't know yet and were pretty upset.

Younger^

My Gran did, she was religious and didn't want me to grow up believing in a man that doesn't exist...

Suzy Abbott. I was seven, I think. I sat under my desk and cried.

Suzy, if you’re on here, it’s ok I’ve forgiven you now.

I always had my doubts, as we didn't have a chimney at home.

However, we do have a chimney in the house we live in now. My children are keen to put out mince pies and sherry for Father Christmas and no presents go under the tree until they're safely tucked up in bed. However, as they're 21, 20 and 18, bedtime is becoming later every year.

My best friend’s dad, when I was 6

My grandpa. He had always ignored me and my brothers and was generally miserable. Honestly, all I ever recall him saying to me was that I needed to clean up and that we shouldn't leave cookies and milk out for Santa because it was a waste.

Then he found out all the booze and tobacco was killing him and for 3 months he seemed so much nicer and happier. It was Christmas (his last one), and he asked me if I liked my new CD player. I said yes. He said "I hoped you would, I picked it out in blue because you always wear that blue top!".

The tag had said "from Santa". I was 12.

Time to find out, really, but it threw me... Not only that Santa wasn't real, but that my grandpa ever thought of me at all.

I was 9 or 10 walking with a group of friends. One said to the group "when did you find out Santa wasn't real?". I remember the horrible feeling in my. I had believed completely until that point.

No one has ever told me and I am 74 now. I always said that I would stop believing the year I didn’t wake up to a stocking on Christmas morning. So far this has never happened.
I always told my dc that of course Santa is real, he is the spirit of Christmas, that little tingle you feel as you go through the last pre Christmas days. When you are very small he is a reindeer driving chap in a red suit. When you are 74 he is stockings and tinsel and carols but most of all Santa is family and friends, warmth and safety and we should all do all we can to pass that on where it is absent.

This post should carry a Spoiler Alert!!

My parents. They were JWs.

I was told by my
Mum when I was about 9 (and had had several rows about the topic with classmates- I was a firm believer) that he only came to people who believed.
So I believe.
And I get a stocking every year.
I’m 38

My mum told me when I was 9 or 10. I was devastated - nothing to do with Santa but from humiliation and sadness that my parents had so thoroughly lied to me for years. It felt like a betrayal, honestly. I know it probably sounds stupid but I don’t understand why it’s enjoyable for adults to deceive a child for years.

I won’t be telling my kids Santa exists.

I should say - my parents did not have a good relationship so believing them when they told us they loved us despite all the crap was really important. Possibly why the lie hit home really hard.

I just had a flash back of being 5 and playing with doll under my mums bed, and hoping mum gave me and sister the right ones for Xmas.

I was 6, my brother told me. He told me not to let mom and dad know that I knew, because it'd upset them. Still loved Christmas, would get so excited every year until I was in my teens.

My Gran did, she was religious and didn't want me to grow up believing in a man that doesn't exist...

I don't remember believing. I do remember going downstairs late at night and catching my mum and dad filling stockings. I just thought "that figures".

My dad was an actor - so could obviously do a great Santa impression - and we had two phones in our house (pretty rare in the sixties/seventies). If you dialled a certain number on one phone (174 since you ask), it would make the other phone ring. So, once nieces and nephews started arriving, "Father Christmas" would [disappear to the other room and] "ring" to speak to them. I will never forget the looks of pure incredulous joy when they thought they were actually speaking to Father Christmas! It was a rite of passage for them all.