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Post by Griffey on Dec 26, 2003 17:34:48 GMT -5
Since it's that wintery holiday time of year again, I have a question about Santa that I'd be curious to hear input about, just for fun. If you ever believed in Santa Claus at one point in your life, this is for you. OK, my question is this: Did your parents tell you Santa wasn't real, or did you figure it out by yourself? And if your parents told you, why did you believe them? After all, it was simply their own words against more of their own words, so what inclined you to believe them this specific time over the past? I'll put my answer later, I don't want to bias the audience
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Post by pieisgood on Dec 26, 2003 18:30:01 GMT -5
It was weird, my parents sort of prompted me to figure it out. What we did one christmas (we celebrate anyway- not for religious reasons, just for family reasons) was me and my sister snuck down in the middle of the night and did stockings, with the help of my grandfather. This was all planned by my mom. We did it fine, but it made us realize that humans could do this just as easily. Shortly after we figured it out for sure.
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Post by dragonfly on Dec 30, 2003 16:19:53 GMT -5
:)I had absolute faith in Santa,fey folk,mermaids,unicorns,God (and all the norse gods! I loved them!).I was taught to read early and my reading was not supervised.I believed everything I read and so vivid was my imagination in any case that I saw the bobbing heads of Selkies in the bay, faerie folk fluttering in red ribboned gowns in every poppy field....I saw what I accepted as fact.
At age 6 I saw my father creep inside and pretend to be Santa.Somewhat shocked my father begged me to keep the secret and explained sorrowfully about Saint Nicholas and told me the real story.Despite my dads warning I told all the kids at school that santa did not exist and that further more he had only been a man albeit a nice one who did make some presents for the poor and worse who had died(no flying reindeer!)....I felt they had a right to the truth!...yeah right! They hated my guts...the other parents were madder than hell.
At age 7 The notion of a Christian God disturbed me enough that I asked to be removed from the Catholic Convent.My parents agreed with my right to choose and despite Nans floods of tears sent me to a non religious school. The really funny thing is I happily went on believing all the other stuff for years(dragons and all even up to at age 14!)
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Post by AuntieSocial on Dec 30, 2003 16:52:23 GMT -5
Griffey My mother told me that Santa was in a serious accident with the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny was a basket case and Santa was sleighed.
My mother was never the one to tell me about Santa Claus. Well, she did tell me the folk legends that surrounded the myth, but she never pretended that he was a real being residing in the North. My grandmother was horrified that my mother could do such a thing to us. For years, my grandmother continued the farce of delivering stockings (which Santa conveniently left at her house).
The realisation that Santa wasn't real was what lead to my skepticism about Jesus. After all, if Santa was merely a lie told to children to keep them behaving throughout the year, couldn't Jesus be the same sort of figure with loftier (whole life) goals?
One thing I always found ironic ... Santa always left me one of those glass bottles of Coca-Cola. Considering the fact that it was the Coca-Cola Corporation who created the character of Santa (red velvet clothes on a jovial white haired man), it seems a little amusing now ...
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Post by Griffey on Dec 30, 2003 20:57:20 GMT -5
Wow, you guys have some interesting stories! I'm glad I asked this question, as inane as it may be I was a little skeptic for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure I ever reeeally believed in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy. I mean, I guess I kind of did but there was always a tiny voice that said these guys weren't real. So I figured it out, asked my parents one day, they admitted it was just a hoax for fun. I was OK with that, I never considered it a lie, but maybe that was cus I'd always suspected. Although, I do have to say my parents were rather clever about it; they rigged sleigh bells outside my window once and tied them to a pullcord downstairs... I suppose you guys found the inner meaning to my question, which I guess is "does it have anything to do with your atheism," because you all mentioned religion somewhere in there. To continue with this trend, I don't think my own Santa experience contributed to my being an atheist, although they might have. But hey, I was raised without religion so I don't think I can answer that question reliably. PS. Post number 100! Yipee!!
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Post by nonny on Dec 31, 2003 0:18:17 GMT -5
I was told he wasn't real, i never really thought about why a believed my perants then, i was still getting over the now lack of free preasents.
BTW congrats griffey on the big 100.
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