I ruined a Christmas

[rose_metal_nz]

I'm in my 30s, my sister's in her late twenties & married, and my daughter's 14. My parents still have presents for all 3 of us (plus the cat and the dog) "from Santa". I don't think we ever stopped pretending we believed; I'm also not even sure when Mum clicked that we didn't

[HiddenMica]

My mom would throw a "present" on the roof above the door in the winter. Something water proof. She would also have to hide wrapping paper because I noticed that mom and santa used the same kind. XD

I "believed" well into my teens. Mostly because I had a younger sister and had to encourage it in her.

Then again this is the woman that somehow convinced me in first grade that meatballs grew on trees... to the point were I got sent to the principles office and she had to be called in from work to explain to both the principle and the teacher why she thought it was a good idea to convince me of that.

I was a very naive kid... Haven't gotten much better... Just have a slightly more dirty outlook on things now.. :snerk:

[nutraxfornerves]

Did the meatballs grow on trees in Switzerland?

Ticino Spaghetti Harvest

[smileyeagle1021]

I really never understood the trauma of learning that there isn't a Santa Claus... part of that may have been because I was raised (and intend to raise any kids that I eventually have) with the concept that Santa isn't so much a person as an idea. Santa is the idea of generosity during Christmas. I know my mom was upset once about a teacher saying there was no Santa, not because she was concerned it had traumatized us, but that the teacher had missed the point of the Santa myth and besides, it wasn't the type of thing that should have been brought up during a math lesson in the first place.

[Limescale]

I really never understood the trauma of learning that there isn't a Santa Claus... part of that may have been because I was raised (and intend to raise any kids that I eventually have) with the concept that Santa isn't so much a person as an idea. Santa is the idea of generosity during Christmas. I know my mom was upset once about a teacher saying there was no Santa, not because she was concerned it had traumatized us, but that the teacher had missed the point of the Santa myth and besides, it wasn't the type of thing that should have been brought up during a math lesson in the first place.

My parents used a similar explanation for how Santa can be seen in so many places around Christmas and accomplish his impossible feat of delivering presents everywhere in one night. Seemed like a very simple way to cover all the bases about his mystical status, and make it easier for when others pull the card of Santa being fake (because of course he doesn't exist as a single entity, but as a representation of all that is good about the holiday).

Still curious to know what brought the subject up in your math class though.

[smileyeagle1021]

Still curious to know what brought the subject up in your math class though.

She was trying to be cute with a word problem, it was something like, "if Santa were real, how fast would he have to travel if his route is (whatever number) miles"
Keep in mind, this was an elementary school, just barely starting on division class, not a high school, I'm going to give you an easy division problem because I feel bad for you class.
Edit- in retrospect, I can see how it would have been a useful question given division was worked on right before the winter break, but at the same time, "your grandma lives 500 miles away, if your dad does the drive in 10 hours, how many miles per hour was he travelling."

[Ben_Who]

Scroll down to "Christmas in 3D for a couple of parents who not only took it waaaay too far, but are STILL DOING IT.

[Thud-n-Blunder]

When our older daughter figured it out, she asked us.

"Are you Santa?" she asked us, flat out.

My wife and I looked at each other, and then I came out with the right thing to say.

"Yes. We are Santa. Your grandparents are also Santa. So are your uncles and aunts. And now, so are you. Your younger sister hasn't figured it out yet, so now you get to help us on being Santa, until she's old enough to help, too"

Instead of making her feel like a fool for believing us, we convinced her it was a game, and that now it was her turn to help us.

In the fullness of time, our younger one figured it out, but we did the same thing - we made her part of the Santa team.

Sometimes, I feel as though I've said the right thing. I feel that this was one of those times.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I worked out that there was no such thing as Father Christmas at the age of six, when I noticed that his handwriting and my mum's were the same. XD I wasn't traumatised, just felt smug about having figured it out. Of course, my parents told me to not tell my little brothers cuz they still believed.

[peach2play]

Well, I don't believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but that doesn't make it any less real to those folks who do so Mom could have just said that different people believe in different things. Mom needs to handle her own problems instead of blaming others.

[Food Lady]

Mom needs to handle her own problems [ that she created ] instead of blaming others.

My take on it.

[scorpionf]

I would not feel guilty if I were you. I have no idea how old the kid was, but if it believed what you said so quickly, then I doubt it would have believed in Santa for much longer anyway.

When I worked in a call centre, I got accused by a woman of ruining her kids christmas because I refused to waive the over $1000 she owed from unpaid internet bills and have her service reconnected the same day (24 December), and all she had got for her kids for christmas was computer games which they needed the internet to be able to play

[Kogarashi]

When our older daughter figured it out, she asked us. "Are you Santa?" she asked us, flat out. -snip-

This exactly is what I'm talking about. Basically make it something you bring each kid in on as they figure it out, so they can easily transition from "disappointment in learning the truth" to "having fun helping the younger group still believe."

when I noticed that his handwriting and my mum's were the same.

And this is why I either change up my handwriting significantly when I do the notes, or make my husband do it by asking him to write as neatly as he possibly can in a nice large print (I keep joking that his doctorate isn't in medicine so he doesn't need to have illegible chicken scratch for handwriting, but he doesn't listen). Either way, the Santa note doesn't match either of our regular handwriting to prevent our clever kids from trying tricks like that.

This is also why we tend to keep a separate roll of wrapping paper out of sight to wrap Santa's gifts in (and why my parents decided to skip wrapping Santa's gifts at all). So the kids couldn't go, "Wait...that's our wrapping paper...."

[smileyeagle1021]

I worked out that there was no such thing as Father Christmas at the age of six, when I noticed that his handwriting and my mum's were the same.

My mom solved this problem by writing out Santa's notes on her Brother typewriter... after all, at the time it was one of the most popular daisy wheel style typewriters on the market, why wouldn't Santa have one?

eta- right after posting this, I remember I had a friend who was a massive Santa believer who was convinced that the note was fake and I should be outraged, because clearly Santa was having his elves write the letters for him

[Seshat]

I believed Santa was an entity not dissimilar to God. So were the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy and all the others. I guess I made my own angels, and called them Santa and Easter Bunny and so forth. Because of that, the impossibilities of Santa or the Easter Bunny's achievements didn't matter. If God can perform miracles, why can't Santa?

Because of this, when a friend of mine told me that her father was one of Santa's helpers, it offended me! Santa didn't need helpers!

Once when I was very small, I was "helping" my mother wash the walls.
"Mum, does God like clean walls?"
"I don't know, dear. Why don't you ask him?"
I walked out onto the verandah. Looked up at the sky. "God, do you like clean walls?"
Came back in. "He said he did."

A few minutes later.
"Mum, does Santa like clean walls?"
"Why don't you ask him?"
Back to the verandah. "Santa, do you like clean walls?"
<a moment's pause, then>
"No, not you God! You've had your turn!"