How Sad were you when....

[longhorn]

You found out there was no Santa Clause.  I don't remember wanting to jump off a high rise, or burn down my neighbors house ( although I almost did when I was 5 yrs old ) but I do recall my childhood friend Dale Tyler telling me it was my parents who put the toys under the tree and ate the cookies me and my sisters left him.  Come to think of it...mabey I do have built-in anger towards my friend Dale.  Please pray that I can somehow forgive him.

Longhorn

[Deborah-Leigh]

You speak volumes Longhorn!

The loss of naiveté is a painful experience only God can heal.

Certainly, the one who removes our naiveté can feel like the rapist of our most pure and innocent emotions. It hurts. It really hurts! How sad....beyond words, even if you know the "rapist" has done you a favor!..........

Magdalene cried for her Lord. Thomas doubted He'd risen from the dead. Both needed Him back in their lives. I think I know what they went through.

I know this is a board for "fun" posts, a jovial levity. Jesus did say, Blessed are they who believe without seeing. He got that right alongside everything else He said. He didn't say it was not going to hurt! Of any ONE, there is comfort to know HE knows how much it hurts.  He is the comfort we need most.

I catch a brief, very fleeting glimpse of chagrin for my own suffering! Now that's funny! That's like real Christmas! Full circle!...only very fragile...there's the chagrin again....

Thank you for your post!

Blessings dearest brother

Deb

[arion]

I wasn't sad....I was mad.  I was mad at my parents for lying to me and it stuck with me for quite a while.  Gave me a lot of food for thought on how I was going to handle things with my kids for sure.

[daywalker]

I wasn't sad....I was mad.  I was mad at my parents for lying to me and it stuck with me for quite a while.  Gave me a lot of food for thought on how I was going to handle things with my kids for sure.

AMEN!! See that's exactly how I felt. My wife and I were having a conversation not too long ago about this and I told her when we have kids I don't want to tell them about Santa Claus and one of my main arguments was that it will create a potential 'distrust' when they learn we made it up... But she feels I'd be "robbing them of fun"... But I don't see why family time can't be fun without hocus pocus nonsense... 

[Shawn Fainn]

I wasn't too disappointed when I found out..

Too focused on playing with my GI Joes and Transformers..

Then the next year my parents split and everything went to hell.. Sigh. Those were the days..

[Cypress]

I was so old by the time my mom told me that I kind of already knew. I think I was 8 (lol) and the only reason she finally told me was because my younger neighbors across the street told me Santa wasn't real, so I asked her. She didn't want to tell me...I think that was a huge 'loss of innocence' to her. Kind of like it would be all over for me. She did though. I wasn't mad; I understood why she did it. I had such a magical childhood. Christmas was amazing.

[Stacey]

I wasn't sad at all. I was glad. After the initial shock it was all good, why? Because I knew something that my sisters, all four of them, did not know and that was golden to me!

After confronting Momma and Daddy with the Top Secret information that I had discovered, I was let in, I became part of the scheme.  I participated in the deception with glee! I got to go shopping for the others with my parents and even wrap and hide the gifts. I was in the know, part of the inner circle. Life was good.

[Dave in Tenn]

I wasn't the least bit surprised, delighted, or disappointed.  What an annoying little smart-aleck.  I like things that make sense, and Santa just didn't make sense.  

[cjwood]

there   isn't   a   santa   claus   ?

ya. i know.

claudia

[Craig]

Well thanks everyone for ruining it for me.

Craig

[Kat]

I can not remember exactly when I found out    I'm not sure there was a time when I believed there was a Santa. When I was really young, maybe 4-5 my parents had someone come to our house all dressed up as Santa and I answered the door, imagine my surprise. I don't remember liking this Santa stranger idea. Maybe this whole thing was just confusing to me. I don't think I ever really fell for it.

I was in the WWCG when I had my own children, so I never went with any of the fairy tale stuff with them. I still don't go along with lying for the sake of 'fun,' I must be looked at as a scrooge to the extended family. My daughter is going to have my first grand baby very soon and I think they want to do the Santa thing with her  Maybe they felt deprived. I won't spoil it for them, but neither will I go along with it, so that will call for a delicate balance to do.

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[indianabob]

Good morning Kat,

We had a similar experience in the late 60's when we joined WCG.
Although we had already tried to teach our young children the truth and to tell the truth
even if it hurt a little. I think that the myth of Santa was dealt with in a manner similar
to the myth of hell as our final destination and vampires and the Frankenstein
monster and Alice in Wonderland and males being superior to females.

It is interesting to me how kind time is to us when we look back on our trials and
tribulations that seemed so important while we were in them.

God is good and He does wipe away tears, when we truly believe.

Bob

[moxicarose]

I was much more angry than sad. I'm actually not really sure which made me the most upset: the fact that I'd been led to about the characters I held dear , or my mom telling me about the Lord in the very next breath...even at 5 years kld, I was incredulous toward her, and suggested that this new person she was telling me about was surely
just as imaginary... God for bringing me to Himself later on in mt life, and giving me the foundation that led to me NOT telling my kids
about santa or the others nonsense characters...

[Vangie]

I was angry too--this helped fuel my rebellion towards authority (which at the time meant parents).  I'm kind of thankful that I don't have children, as I know this must be a hard one for parents to deal with--not sure how I would handle if in the position.

[Ninny]

This is all kind of funny...one of the fondest memories of my childhood was watching the news on Christmas Eve and listening to the report about where Santa was!! I don't even remember when I became aware that Santa didn't really exist, but we loved Christmas Eve when we imagined where in the wide world he was! We never made a big deal of Christmas...we had a tree, but no manger scene..no big deal was really made of it...A lot of you know that I am easily entertained and amused. so waiting to know where Santa was entertained me as a kid!! My parents were practical and they didn't carry out an elaborate plan to keep us from knowing about Santa...in fact maybe Santa IS real, but I am just such a bad girl I have never gotten to see him!! hehe!! My mom always warned us that if we were bad we'd get a lump of coal in our stocking...geeez I never did know what to do with all those lumps of coal I had!! Then when I grew up a little I heard that old song.."I'm just an old lump of coal now, Lord, but I'm gonna be a diamond some day." so maybe my lumps of coal have turned me into a diamond...what do you guys think? Some of you don't know me well enough.. those of you who know me pretty well had better keep your mouths shut!! haha!! seriously........................Longhorn...don't you say a word!!  that's just all I have to say about that!!
Kathy

[servias]

I am pretty sure I already knew the truth but I had to find out for myself (age 6 or 7).  I figured it out when I snooped and saw the presents in my parents closet marked "Santa".  I was a little disappointed but my dad re-assured me that if I wanted to continue to get presents from "Santa" I had to keep thanking him "Santa" for the presents.  So fortunately it worked and I received presents from "Santa" until I was 18. 

[cjwood]

ninny, i know you and you are absolutely hilarious!!!  i also remember watching as an elementary kid on the tv weather radar where santa and his reindeer were at.  it was exciting, although my santa bubble was actually popped as a preschooler, when 'santa claus' came to our house on christmas eve, and i recognized him in spite of his very white beard.  he was a man from our church.  go figure...

claudia

[Deborah-Leigh]

Ha ha he he he lol ....tooooo cute ....all of ya!

Blessings
Arc

[Cypress]

  hehe, you know, my mom will never forget me running into their room one Christmas night excited that I had heard Santa's sleigh bells. I still remember it vividly. I think I even looked out my window and saw it. I still have the picture in my head . I guess I was dreaming .

Hi Cyress. I have to keep you company on this one, haha. My mom never wanted the innocence to end either I guess, although we never spoke about it.
I was way too old when I figured it out too, and only then because I was out-numbered by virtually everyone in every other class. But.. I actually had photo proof you see a surprised santa caught under the tree. That was unique. I actually managed to win over a few 'converts'  . I never understood how my parents could afford gifts for 8 children anyway so in a way it did kind of make sense.
It finally began to dawn on me at some point that maybe I was being deceived, which actually did bother me, being inconsistant with how I was raised being taught not to lie, hmm.
I like the sentiments expressed here on being truthful with children. Certainly not easy in this carnally minded world but I think children   feel respected and do appreciate being "in" on Truth. Children can be incredibly mature when parents choose to include them in mature explainations and discussions.
I remember my only feeling at the time was in my disappointment that no such selfless person existed; some one person who would serve all the children in the world, entirely out of love.  

How blessed to learn there really was/is such a person after all.  

Fun reading these posts all. Thanks for walking us down memory lane, Longhorn 

[cjwood]

... Today I believe the sovereign God, and his Son Jesus Christ the Savior of the world, but I don't think these truths will mean as much or anything at all to me if I was not first exposed to, and lived so many lies.

journey i believe the words you spoke are absolutely true.  thanks for sharing.

claudia