Did you ever believe in Santa Claus?

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I believed until I was about 11. I'm an only child, so I didn't have other siblings to spoil it. Also, due to my Asperger's naivety and extreme honesty (I NEVER "peeked" or "snooped" for presents), I was able to believe for a lot longer than most.

I had believed in Santa Claus when I was a kid. I would get so nervous when I would see him, even though he's actually an actor in a Santa Claus outfit. I believed in him until I was 12, although a little part of me believes he exists.

One of my earliest memories is being told that Santa Claus doesn't exist and already knowing. I don't remember ever believing in him. I also plan and not making my children believe in Santa. They will know of the historical Saint Nicholas of Turkey and the birth of Christ but we will not celebrate the fat Santa of commercialism.

Yes, longer than most other kids my age in fact. I think mainly it was because I was afraid I would no longer get presents or at least "good ones", if I didn't. Now, I feel the same way about God, except I have no problem being an unbeliever whatsoever. If I decided to believe only because I feared going to hell that would actually be a stupid reason to do so. Or would it? Spending eternity writhing in hellfire compared to getting coal or only socks and underwear. But I guess that's a whole other topic... my *supposedly* NT brother on the other hand, never seemed to believe in Santa or even get excited about Christmas as a kid, even if he did like the gifts he got. To me, Santa still does exist to a point, anyone who is kind, thoughtful and generous during the holidays has a "Santa" in their hearts, including me.

In Proverbs it says "When I was a child I thought like a child". Yes, when I was small I did believe in Santa Claus.

I remember debates like that in elementary school, but I believed. My response to the non-believers was, OK, I agree with you. His beard and his red costume are fake, and he doesn't fly through the air in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, but that doesn't mean that the guy isn't real.

I think my younger sister figured out that he wasn't real and told me. I was 11, she was 10.

Interesting enough that was the same time that I put one and one together and figured out that god was make-believe, just like Santa.

Thats weird. My understanding is that easter bunny tradition originated in Germany. It's not well know in the UK?

The Easter bunny is way down-played here in Norway too; in fact I didn't hear about that one until I was adult. The only things I connected with Easter were chocolate, eggs and chickens.

I am incredibly gullible. I believed in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, God. Anything adults told me, I believed. I am still gullible but believe in nothing. I felt a complete fool when I found out the truth. I believe that lying to children is wrong and never told my children these lies but the older one begged to be allowed to believe in Father Christmas even though she knew it was pretend! I understand fantasy is supposed to be part of childhood but hate the lies. I now have the dilemma of grandchildren soon old enough to be lied to and the other grandparents probably will want to do the Santa nonsense.

no, but then again my parents never said he was real.

Absolutely. I can remember denouncing the other third graders who told me otherwise, because ...I had a letter from Santa!

When I was about three, my parents secretly made my grandfather to drive to their place, enter the apartment, place the presents under the Christmas tree and leave a trail of candy to the window while we were in another room. He would then leave again, as if he had not been there. They timed it carefully and distracted me for just five minutes or so. Because that deception was so elaborate, and my father has never lied to me before at that point, I did not really come up with it as an explanation and accepted theirs. About two years later, some older kid told me that all parents deceive their children in that way. Then I confronted them about it and they admitted their dishonesty, adding some explanation how it made everyone happy and what not.

I think it is fairly important to children to lie to them about Santa Claus, because at least it taught me that you can't even trust your parents and that people will basically lie to you and deceive you for whatever unfounded or selfish reasons, but all in a non-harmful and nice way with presents.