NGPR: How old were you when...

[Cheesecake]

'Tis the season, the first pics of kids with Santa are showing up on my FB feed, and our local equivalent, Saint Nick, has arrived as well.
My co-worker told me her 8 year old still believes, and I am shocked. I know that when I was little, no-one in my class believed past age 7, by that time the teacher would just tell. And that was really just the 3 total naive losers. Everyone else had figured it out (or was told by their parents) by that time.

I did believe, for a year or 2 that I can remember. DH believed for about 2 days, then put it to the test and figured out immediately that it was his parents. (Tradition here is to put a shoe by the fireplace or door in the weeks up to the big party, it'll be filled with goodies. Usually your parents tell you when you're allowed to, but parents also tell you St Nick knows everything. DH put his shoe down without telling his parents. He figured if there was something in there, St Nick was real. His parents didn't notice the shoe, it was empty when he woke up and the myth was over.)

Anyways, I was wondering at what age you stopped believing. And also, might be fun to make it a little more GP related, are you planning to do these traditions with your kids?

[littlemisschatty]

I was almost 10...I was the last kid in my class. Truth is, I still believe in the spirit of Santa around the holidays. Maybe I am just cheesey like that.

And yes, my kids will def hear about Santa, North Pole, etc. It makes things so magical. I also loved doing the nativity and the Advent calendars. I can't wait to do all of that stuff!

[VillainV]

I was in kindergarten. We made papier mache christmas tree ornaments, and I decided that I was going to give mine to Santa because he always gave ME gifts. Of course I didn't tell my parents, because why would I? Of course, on Christmas morning, my ornament was still on the tree because Santa hand't taken it. So he was either a real meanie, or was fake.

[winecheery]

You know, I forget how old I was! I want to say 7-8...I'm fairly sure I didn't believe at 9 anymore.

But I adored keeping the tradition up for my younger sister, and I'd eat the cookies so it looked like Santa came, and I'd try to talk her out of waiting up for Santa so she wouldn't see my parents doing the gifts at night. Then when my other sister came along both of us did the same for her, despite us being well past believing. (Big age gap )

I love the tradition of Santa, and I think it holds such nice memories for my sisters and I, and I think there is a great joy in the season when you celebrate all that goodness.

I was raised Catholic/ Christian, and I'm not religious now though I have faith/spirit, but there's still something I find fun about midnight mass on Christmas Eve. I've even been invited to a few Hannukah celebrations over the years, and I find those traditions fun and wonderful too.

All of it is wonderful to me. I see nothing wrong or bad about Santa. Who hates Santa???

I don't see why believing in a little magic sometimes is so bad. Where's the wonder and joy in life if you don't have a bit of an imagination?

[glauren]

I don't remember how old I was, but I distinctly remember pretending to believe for at least a year or two after I figured it out - I thought I'd get two times the presents (what a little shit, right??)
I also don't get the Santa hate! We're totally doing Santa when we have kids.

[blindyswife]

I don't remember the specific point or age where I stopped believing. I remember at some point noticing that Santa had the same handwriting as my mom, and beginning to be suspicious, but I don't know how old I was when that happened. I do know that I kept pretending to believe longer than I actually did because I knew how fun it was for my parents. Plus, I didn't want to stop getting presents from Santa!