Is there anyone who was raised without believing in Santa?

[treestar]

Some DUers say they were raised by atheist or agnostic parents, but that might not necessarily mean they went without Santa.

If you are Jewish or Muslim, and lived in the US, you must have heard of him, but do you think the kids who believed in him were dupes? How did you avoid not telling them, if you knew any?

[SPKrazy]

1. Santa Who?

kidding

no I was raised with Santa and his elves at the north pole







kidding again



don't know why I responded to this thread, just a smartass I guess!

:rofl:

[treestar]

2. You were raised with them?

No wonder you believe in them!

:rofl:

[SPKrazy]

3. That's Right

and in fact I'm an elf!

:spank: :rofl: :rofl:

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. Oh yeah?

Then go Elf Yourself!! (and post it for all to see!) :rofl:

http://www.elfyourself.com/

[SPKrazy]

5. Been There, Done That

but here it is

http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=f61b351293b67beae86d6fbG06121316

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. Well....

You just made my day! :rofl:

Love the elf voice!


Check this one out :evilgrin:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=3f61daa0165b52d603f57b0G06121710

[auntAgonist]

12. awesome LOL

:hug:

aA

[hickman]

24. That's Alvin's voice.

Why didn't they use his head? I see bigotry.

[auntAgonist]

11. I'm glad I checked this thread!

:rofl: I love your elfishness :)


aA

[Whoa_Nelly]

13. Elfish...hmmmm....

Have always pictured myself as more of a Leprechaun! :P

[SPKrazy]

15. Leprechauns Are Naughty

are you naughty?

:evilgrin:

Elves can be naughty too!

[Whoa_Nelly]

19. Am very much Irish

I think naughty goes with the heritage

[SPKrazy]

23. I am German, Irish, English, A Mutt

but mostly German

;-)

and I think you are naughty! ;-)

[Whoa_Nelly]

27. A well-known fact that I'm

an angel


...in disguise

[SPKrazy]

28. A Naughty Angel?

Or a nice devil?

me, I'm just naughty!

:evilgrin:

[Silver Swan]

7. Never duped--there is a LIE in beLIEve

I guess a serious answer wasn't wanted here, but I'll give one anyway.

My family celebrated Christmas, but I was always taught that Santa was make-believe.

Years later, I congratulated my mother for her truthfulness, and she explained that she had believed in Santa as a child, and when she found out he wasn't real, she was so devasted she vowed that she would never lie to her own children about Santa.

I always taught my own children that Santa was make believe.

I guess, as a child, I always thought my friends also knew Santa wasn't real. I don't recall revealing the truth to anyone.

My daughters used to look down on their cousin who believed, but they never disillusioned him.

When I read of ten year old kids who are still encouraged to believe in Santa, I cringe.

[Arugula Latte]

10. That's interesting.

I was raised by atheist parents, but Santa came to our house. Of course I eventually figured it out, but I was grateful that I'd had a little taste of believing in something magical, because I never believed in some sort of deity. I didn't feel duped, just kind of sad to embrace reality. I figure life gets serious enough soon enough, so my kids have enjoyed the Santa thing. (One is too old to believe anymore, and the other is probably on her last year or two of belief.)

[cobalt1999]

21. I'm an atheist but Santa comes to our house.

Your post captures the reasons why very well. Life does get serious very soon and a little magic while young is harmless. I can't imagine anyone being "devastated" when learning the truth. If so, there are many more "devastations" in life awaiting someone that emotional.

[skygazer]

16. I've heard of people being devastated when they learned

But I never knew any. I'm one of six (the youngest) and we all believed until that age when you figure it out (8? 9?). I don't recall it having any kind of impact on me. I think I'd begun to wonder at some point and then it became more obvious. The giveaway was the year my oldest brother opened a gift from "Santa" and said, "Wow, thanks Mom! I mean, Santa!"

If I thought about it at all, I looked at it as a fun bit of make-believe, like fairies or magic or religion (which I believed less than I did Santa). Kids being so into make-believe, I think for the most part, it tends to be a pretty painless illusion. Obviously for some, it's more difficult.

I think it depends in a large part on how the adults around the kid treat it. I don't think it was treated so much as a serious thing as a fun thing which made it less of a loss when it became obvious it wasn't real.

[cwydro]

8. I just got my annual box of Christmas goodies from my mom

mince pies and Christmas pudding (English parents). And small gifts all addressed to me with "From Santa" on the label. I'm in my 40's.:7 :P :bounce:

So I do not know of what you speak...dupes??!!

[LeftyMom]

9. My parents tried, but I never believed in it.

At two or three I'd tell them it was all pretend. I can remember at three or so thinking up reasons why there couldn't be a Santa, asking questions like why Santa wrote like my Mom, etc.

I don't play up the Santa thing to my son but my sister does. I'm not sure how much of it he believes.

[hfojvt]

14. everyone in my family was raised without believing

One of my earliest memories was of my big sister (two years older) telling me that Santa was not real, no matter what my parents said. Apparently I took her on faith. How did she know? But I faithfully passed this message on to my younger siblings. I do not remember anybody talking about it, but my little brother said that he was telling people in school and they started crying and stuff.

It's all too long ago to remember. I am not even sure how old I was when my sister told me the truth about Santa.

[Withywindle]

17. Me!

My parents always treated it like a fun make-believe thing to play along with but there was never any doubt in their minds or mine that it was make-believe. They never signed gift tags "Santa" or anything like that. And we had a family tradition of opening half our presents on Christmas Eve anyway, so we never did the "wait for Santa" thing in any respect.

I never had any particular "sense of wonder" issues, though. I was a very imaginative kid anyway - Santa was pretend and so was the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, but fairies and ghosts and talking animals and mermaids and Greek gods and all the stuff I read about in books were absolutely real as far as I was concerned!

[Fredda Weinberg]

18. We got gifts for 8 days

And gelt (cash) for gambling with dreidels (bet you didn't know that's what the tops were for). I felt sorry for Christian kids, really.

[eyesroll]

20. I grew up Jewish -- my parents told me some kids believe in Santa, but we didn't

and we are to respect those beliefs.

I don't think Kiddo believes in Santa as a real entity. Maybe she thinks of him as she does her cartoon characters and super heros. We were in the bookstore today, and she said "maybe you can get this book for me so Santa can leave it under the tree."

[Skittles]

22. I was

I had too much realism in my life, just trying to survive, to believe in such utter nonsense

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. I was a Lutheran preacher's kid raised without Santa

We always opened our presents on Christmas Eve, so it was obvious who had brought them.

Still, we had our pictures taken with Santa Claus every year, but it was always with kind of a wink-wink attitude. We just thought of him as a symbol of Christmas, not a real person.

[InvisibleTouch]

26. I was never taught to BELIEVE in Santa...

...in the sense that there was ever a point in my life that I thought he was real, and that's where all those presents come from. It was more of a playful suspension of disbelief - as in, "let's pretend, just for fun." But I could step out of that mindset and know the truth, also. Kinda like letting yourself get emotionally caught up in a book or movie, but then being able to turn it off or put it down and remember that it was all just fiction. That's really the best option, IMO.