Day 7 – Hoodies!
! ! ! Christmas Magic Spoiler Alert for Kids ! ! !
We’re now a week into this Christmas calendar!
In today’s video we cut together a montage of footage we filmed at the Christmas lights walk we went on the other day. We added it to the end of the video if you want to watch it.
We’re also sharing our story of how we found out that the Christkind (Europe’s equivalent to Santa Claus) wasn’t real. We’d love to hear your stories on how you discovered the “secret”, too! 🙂
You can win a hoodie in the process!
Day 6 – MLT Hoodie (2 winners)
We will pick two random commenters to win a hoodie tomorrow! Sizes available are XS-3XL so there will be something for everybody!
How to enter:
Comment: How and when did you find out that Santa Claus (or the equivalent to it in your country) wasn’t real?
Prize:
An MLT Hoodie (2 winners)
We are looking forward to reading your stories!
Mona & Lisa
Speaking of hoodies, I love my MLT, next time, I’m getting a couple sizes bigger then my current one to accommodate better my extra sweaters I need to wear in the winter to stay warm outdoors as I take city transportation as I have no driver’s license, and do have poor blood circulation, rendering me feeling cold most of the time , although moreso in winter it is worse while during Spring to Autumn not as bad, I’m like a human thermometer, whatever the temps , that’s how I feel, …lol . I wear my current sized MLT hoodie around my apartment !!????
Congrats to the winners ????
Hi Girls..I’ve been out of touch the last few days and so here I am on day 11 trying to catch up…. I loved this video of your walk through the lights and it was a good thing there was NO music…LOL…brilliant idea to add music from your Christmas CD…as I’ve been traveling around I’ve got your Christmas music playing in the car ❤️????
At age 6 I accidentally found a bunch of wrapped presents in the attic of our house. I asked my parents why they were there and how they got there and was told that Santa Claus dropped them off early because he had so many to deliver everywhere. They weren’t very convincing and I didn’t buy it. But I didn’t tell anyone either as I figured they would be angry with me! Love today’s video, Whistleblower, Christmas Land and all!
I was age 6, but I had my suspensions prior to that for about a year.
He’s Not? LOL….I suppose it is today. JK….that’s a good question cause I know as a kid I believed but then I was a sucker for a good myth. You would think with all the tv shows and movies about Santa Claus in the States kids would figure out he wasn’t real early on but I was probably 7 or 8 before I realized it. Just call me slow I guess?
I got disillusioned when I was 6 years old because I recognized the neighbor on his voice and his winter boots!
I knew in the early years that it does not exist Santa, but continued to believe in the rattle stork (German: Klapperstorch, that brings the children). But if I was later on the Christmas market, I had the feeling that Santa watched …
I was taught to address my ‘Thank you’ letters to the relatives who sent my Christmas presents. So, I learned the truth when I was about four years old. ????
For me,it was the year my Beloved Grandmother passed away.She passed just before Thanksgiving,so the Holiday season that year was not celebrated with the same sense of joy as usual.It was then all my cousins and I(at least those of us from age 10 or so)were thrust into the real world,so to speak.
First let me say Season’s Greetings! I have been traveling out of town to visit family so today I was finally getting caught up with the Advent Calendar. It is wonderful and I am excited to be able to enjoy it as a special treat every day from now until Christmas!
I remember all the things my parents did to make the story of Santa as real as they could. The trips to the department store to sit on Santa’s knee, the explanations as to why there were so many Santa’s at the same spot at the same time, leaving the cookies and milk next to the tree that were always eaten during the night and the crumbs still evident on the empty plate, etc., etc. But I don’t remember exactly when or how I finally found out the secret. I do remember though how my mom sat me down when she realized I had figured it out and explained to me that what made Santa “real” were all the acts of joy and love that were being done in his name, and in the spirit of Christmas. And I could see, even at that tender age, that those were indeed real.
Although I suspected that Santa wasn’t real, the magic was still there. On Christmas Eve, when I was a out 7 years old, my mom gave me a bunch of packages to take down the street to the house my Uncle, Aunt, and cousin’s lived. When I got there, both my Uncle and Aunt was working furiously trying to assemble some toys for their children to be under the tree the next morning. I laughed about it as I went home, but when I entered my own home laughing about it, my own mother got angry and scolded me about how Christmas would never be the same…. i cried.
my mom and dad told me when I was 3 or 4 years old
Magic candle and tea? Brilliant! It warms the heart to see you four making memories as a loving, close-knit family! And then to invite us all along! Thank you!
As far as Santa goes, maybe I was a skeptical, cynical kid, but I jumped off the Santa bus way before school, maybe age 4ish? I have early memories of finding cookie crumbs and an empty milk glass Christmas morning and remember trying to stay awake to try and catch the jolly invader once but doubted anyone could do what people claimed he could do at an early age. Similar to you not wanting to spoil the illusion for your young friends, I remember a first-grade school bus ride when two older kids were tormenting a young believer. I sided with the younger one (my age) even though I didn’t believe and was ridiculed right along with him. I had to bite my tongue and swallow my pride, but made a good new friend!
I was 10 years old and my sister, who was 3 years older than me, outed my parents. I did not want to believe her though and just kept believing until it was just so obvious that I gave up. But we all know that Santa is real!!! Merry Christmas everyone!!!
I don’t actually have any memory of believing in Santa Claus, although I’m sure I did at a young age. I remember when I was seven or eight, I snuck into the closet in my parents bedroom before Christmas and found all the presents hidden there. So that was a dead giveaway that something wasn’t right about the Santa story.
A lot of folks are reporting finding presents in the closet as their “aha” moment. I intruded on my parents’ walk-in closet routinely and never came across anything. When I asked as an adult, they said they hid the presents in the attic directly above the garage. To access that area they had to move a car outside, position and climb a ladder, and push out a large panel in the ceiling. What great lengths they went to in order to preserve the illusion!
A lot of work and a lot of love involved there, David!
When I was 5, my brother and I received a little toy from our preschool. We were so glad and showed it to our dad. “Look what Santa brought us at the school”. He answered that it is not from the school or Santa, the school is charging it for it.
My parents never got to start “the Santa thing”. When I was very young I said to my mom, that “Santa can not come into our home, because, we do not have a fireplace”.
My mother agreed – and answered, that “Santa actually only is a nice fairytale, to remind us – to think as children”,
The 4 stages in life
1) You believe in Santa Claus.
2) You do not believe in Santa Claus.
3) You are Santa Claus.
4) You look like Santa Claus.
Question: Where does Santa Claus live when he is on holiday?
Answer: On a ho-ho-ho-tel
When I was a ten year old boy, we used to put out milk and cookies for Santa Claus and leave the front door of our house open so that he could visit us, since we didn’t have a fireplace for him to come down. Of course, my mom and dad were “Santa.” I think some know-it-all kids at school assured me that Santa was not real, so I asked my Mom who confessed that the kids were right. I didn’t want to spoil Christmas morning for my little brother so I must have told him a dozen times on Christmas Eve that Santa is real. He must have thought that if I were trying that hard to tell him Santa is real, he must not really be real after all. The truth is that Santa Claus is real but just not in the way we thought when we were little.
What do you mean there’s no Santa Claus?
Dear Editor— I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Francis B. Church
Editor of the New York Sun 1897
The classic answer to the age old question, is their a Santa Claus? The best answer i have ever seen. Thanks for posting
I had three younger siblings, so even as I began to think I might have it figured out, I didn’t say anything and just played along all through high school.
I kind of grew into knowing. “Santa” (and, around Easter, the “Easter Bunny”) wrote little letters to me and my older sister and left them on a table for us to find. No one ever spoiled the story for me, but I believe that one year, probably when I was around 7, my mom asked me if I’d like to write Santa’s letter to my sister. I don’t remember thinking a thing about it. Maybe she’d said something like, “I don’t don’t know if Santa will be able to write a letter this year, perhaps you could write it for him.” In any case, I never felt that the world had come out from under me.
I never told my own kids when they asked. When they’d say something like, is Santa real, I’d only say, “well, I think he’s real.” It was up to them to figure it out when they were ready. I don’t think that I will ever ask them this question. In my heart, I think that all of us, in some way, need to believe that Santa is real. And I don’t want to make anyone lose the joy of keeping that little thought alive in their heart.
I’m not sure exactly when, but it was before 4th Grade. At a Cub Scout meeting I said something about him not being real, and my den mother snapped, “Dale!” I looked past her and saw her younger son who wasn’t yet old enough to be a Cub Scout.
Oops!
Later she apologized for snapping at me and said it was because the younger son didn’t know yet.
My brother was 7 years older than me, so the Santa thing got phased out pretty early. We were fortunate enough to have both sets of grandparents living with us so we never had to travel for the holidays. We celebrated a traditional German Christmas Eve with family and friends. My fascination with Santa didn’t end though, and I bought my own costume when I was 18 or 19 and used to dress up for local nursing homes and senior citizens groups, but the highlight was playing Santa at my local pub! Plenty of holiday cheer to go around!
So first of all, great video today, lots of smiles! And second, I distinctly remember Lisa saying something about not being able to dance, and yet we’re presented with irrefutable proof to the contrary, and without music no less!
I do not remember exactly when I realized Santa was mostly a concept, I think rather early on, around five years or so. We had five kids and our parents always made Christmas great for us, but it’s hard to hide that many presents!
I don’t really recall when, but I was “later in life”, maybe 9 or 10. My parents finally sat me down and told me the truth.
I don’t remember a particular “aha!” moment, just a lot of mounting evidence that finally convinced me that grownups sometimes make up things. I do remember once peeking into the living room well after my bed time and seeing a shadowy figure moving around that looked surprisingly like my dad.
I don’t know if it is common in other parts of the world, but in the USA on Christmas Eve children are often told to leave out a plate of cookies for Santa (and sometimes carrots for the reindeer). The next morning the plate will always have nothing but crumbs on it. Who could be eating Santa’s cookies besides Santa???
Thank you for posting the wonderful Christmas Lights Walk video. I particularly enjoyed Lisa’s “parking lot celebration” dance!
I don’t remember exactly when. I think I always had my doubts – too many things didn’t add up (flying reindeer, able to get to EVERY house in one night, fat guy fitting down our chimney – things like that). I do remember telling my older brother Tim, who apparently did believe. Sorry Tim!
A few years ago I read that someone had used a trip-planning algorithm to figure out the shortest path that connects every house in the world. Assuming Santa could travel at the speed of light, it was calculated that he could spend only three milliseconds at each house.
I had a turbulent childhood and I can’t really remember me believing in Santa. I liked Yule as a pleasant period of time, where you had nice gifts and the food was excellent. lost my father at 5 and had to travel with my mum who was a housekeeper for different men. Had the “pleasure” to attend 10 different public schools before I got to a real home at a boarding school. I had 5 years at 2 different boarding schools and finished high school on the second back in 1969. My mom and I had a good relationship where I felt I got the best she could offer. And the much moving around gave me a ballast in life that made me who I am today – a retired teacher who seems to have done well in that job. I like the Scandinavian story of the Yuletide or jul as we say in Danish. Yule is from the time when Odin and Thor ruled together with different things as Nisser which has very little to do with pixies or elves. So merry Yule to the both of you. 😉
I don’t really remember the age but it was in the mid to late 60’s. Somewhere maybe 7-9 years old. We didn’t have a chimney so how the heck was he getting into the house?! No way he could fit down the furnace pipe!
I found out when I was about 7. I heard some kids talking about how Santa wasn’t real so I started putting things together and when I asked my parents they were honest and told me not to spoil it for my two younger brothers
I think I learned this in 3rd grade from a kid who lived a couple houses down from mine. He was the kid in our neighborhood who had all the secret forbidden knowledge known only by adults and the older kids. He generally got half of it wrong. But his ‘flash’ about Santa was right and reluctantly confirmed by my parents.
I don’t remember my age, but I woke up and was sneaking down the stairs because I got hungry, and wanted to see if Santa had come already. Mom and dad were still putting the presents under the tree. I didn’t say anything, and I went back up to my room, and fell asleep again. I didn’t say anything to anyone and kept the secret, even from my parents. I milked the extra presents for another 2 or 3 years or so.
Wow, well first I’d like to say that I enjoyed the family video. The tunnel of lights was cool. Merry Christmas to you all.
What da ya mean Santa Claus is not real?!! I don’t believe you! I’m going to Google it. Ha! Ha! Ha! (I mean Ho! Ho! Ho!)
Seriously, I was in the Second Grade when my best friend (but I am not going to tell you Steve O’Neal’s name) said that Santa was my Dad and Mom. He said he found part of his Christmas in his parent’s closet. I told him I didn’t believe him and he laughed at me.
So, then I asked my older brother. He said that it was true. Steve was not lying to me. I felt like a balloon deflating. To be absolutely sure I told my Mother everything and asked her if it was true. She said yes and that I should not spoil the fun for anyone that still believed.
Though I still felt deflated I also felt like I was part of a grown-up club. I knew the truth. Ho!! Ho!! Ho!!!
I found out in grade school, I think I was around 10 or 11 when I saw my mom hiding the Christmas presents and being a kid, I snuck to look when she was not in the room where she hid them and saw the presents from Santa. I did not say anything for a few years, no need to risk the Santa presents 🙂 Right?
I first had my suspicions when Santa used the same wrapping paper, and had the same handwriting as my mum. Not sure how old I was, probably bout 9 or 10, it was a while ago. ????
I think my older brother told me when I was 5 or 6. But I just want to say, Lisa your dance moves would make Michael Jackson jealous. Peace Be.
I was probably 10 or 11 when some neighborhood kids told my older sister and myself. My sister told the kids they were wrong. I found out later that my sister already knew but she was trying to “keep Santa alive” for me. Pretty special sister huh?
He’s not real?!?
For me in school junior school. The girl I sat next to was like don’t be silly there is no Santa its your Dad. She kept on and on and like you I asked my parents. It was a sad day.
Loved the video by the way.
We always left Santa a piece of apple pie with a slice of cheese on top, my brother and I always quietly tip toed downstairs before our parents woke up to see if he ate the piece of pie we left and he always left a note saying how good it was, he always left half of it and said he was in a hurry he had to go. I think as we got older the slice of cheese gave the secret away, it was our Dad. Age I can’t remember but probably 5 or 6. Great memories.
I enjoy reading all the comments too.
I was the youngest of three and I think my sisters were good about keeping the magic alive for me, but… sooner or later, rumors and evidence and plain old reasoning had their gradual way. I didn’t say anything to my parents, but my sisters and I launched a conspiracy and on Christmas morning when the family awoke, my parents were surprised to discover there were five stockings full of candy and gifts, not three!
Santa Claus doesn’t exist ???? ????
FAKE NEWS !!!!! ???? ☃️
Hey Mona, Lisa. Great to see you both well. Gutted I missed the start of your Christmas festivities but here now!
Probably around the age of 10 but could not say for sure.. it probably should have clicked when my dad used to disappear into the family spare room with the sound of sellotape on Christmas eve.. 😛
Robert if you scrool up you can see all the previous days in order.
Thanks Rick 🙂
SPOILERS! LOL The forest walk was lovely. Thanks!
Santa’s not real!?!?!? I honestly don’t remember finding out that Santa wasn’t real.
The whistleblower was funny! ???????? The hoodie kinda gave her away though!
What a great walk in the woods. That looked lovely even if it seemed it was freezing cold. I always enjoy these little montage videos, they are so much fun.
As for Finding out about Santa, it was my first day in first grade at school. I thought some of the boys were being mean to me, but one of my good friends (I knew almost all the class from before) gently said to ask my parents when I got home. Which I did and the secret was out. My older brother had kept the secret for a year. I remember feeling bad, I was the last to know, and like Michael said, lying was no-no and my mother had to explain why sometimes lying is ok, which was very awkward. Even back then, my engineer focused mind was very black and white, “is it OK, or is it not?”, “can I decide when it’s OK?” I’m sure my mother didn’t appreciate that!
For me, the rumors of Santa Claus not being real were spread by kids at school. I was already aware my parents were hiding wrapped presents in their bedroom closet, but I still believed for a couple years more, I quess I didn’t want the illusion to end. Waking up on Christmas morning was the best day of the year with all the presents under and around the tree.
Wow…..what a risky question. I think I was around 12 years old. I went snooping thru my parents closet and saw some presents that made me think “wait a minute” these didn’t come from Santa. The rest is history!!!
I would have been about 6 when my mother woke me up as she tripped trying to sneak into my room during the night with the Christmas Stocking that me and my brother used to wake up to in the morning ???? lovely video of the lights trial, with of cause great backing track ????
Like many of the other comments, I don’t remember ever believing in Santa. But at 72 many of those early years memories no longer exist. I do remember going to the mountains and cutting our own tree and decorating it (that used to be allowed). It’s interesting to read all the comments.
I was around 12 years old and I reached under my parents bed to retrieve a ball and pulled out a guitar!
Probably about 7 or 8, but I don’t remember how I learned Santa was a fake. But, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. I love your version and video! XOXO
Hi Mona and Lisa! I think I was 9 or 10 years old when my friend told me she found out that Santa was really our parents. I remember arguing with her that she was wrong, but it planted the seed of doubt. I recall I was wondering how it could be possible that one entity could bring gifts to all the children in the world in a single night anyway by that age. The innocence of childhood slowly slipping away…….
I don’t remember when I found out Santa was not real. I guess I still want to believe, ha ha
Hi girls I think I 1st got the idea there was no Santa Claus at about 7 years old when one Christmas Eve I had gotten up to use the restroom and saw my dad assembling 2 bicycles for me and my brother and I asked mom on Christmas Day if Santa Claus brought the bikes and she told me he delivered them and dad had to help put them together.
I guess I was about 6. I sorta figured it out on my own, then asked my parents, and they were honest about it – “the spirit of Christmas” didn’t require a real Santa Claus. Don’t remember it being particularly traumatic at all.
I was 7 and I slipped and fell while going through my parents bedroom and saw a B B Gun under there which I recieved on Christmas.
Your videos get more fun every day! I think I worked out Santa when I was about 6 or 7 years old after I was joined in the family by my younger brothers. Presents were placed at the foot of the bed so you got a surprise when you woke up early and I must have stayed awake one year to see what was going on. Of course I kept my brothers in the dark for ages!
I believe I was about 7 years old when some of the kids in school were talking about Santa. I went home and asked my parents. That is how I found out. Thank you for sharing your Christmas light walk. That looked pretty groovy!
I don’t think, as a child, I ever believed in Santa..
Now that I’m old, I’m not so sure.
I think… at the least.. we can be Santa, if we so choose…
and I choose to be
Hugs to you My friends.
(ps loved the video outing)
No Santa? Santa lives in the hearts and minds of little children.
Awww, the sweet innocence of youth, priceless! 🙂
My older brother and sister filled me in when I was seven. This was on the condition that I not tell our younger sister. They then showed me where the presents were hidden.
Actually, I think they tried to convince me that the elves had delivered the gifts early to beat the rush. I wasn’t buying that. That was 1972.
Seems like yesterday.
JP
update – I posted above earlier today, but did not watch the video until this evening. Marlo and I were having a bite to eat and both of us did a spit take when the whistle blower spoke. You two are hilarious ???? ????
Thanks for taking everyone along on your enchanting walk. Lisa’s dance moves were really groovy. Is Rudi now your choreographer?
Wow…the whistleblower! I was in grammar school when the rumors started to circulate. I don’t remember the whistleblower sporting a Mona Lisa Twins hoodie though.
O.M.G! You two crack me up beyond belief! You’ve got the tea and candle down to magic! And that whistleblower video. LMAO!!! That Christmas light outing (including the dancing elf) just made me ache to have been there with you. I wish I had put half the fun in life that you two do.
I don’t remember there being a moment. I just found it a bit absurd and knew better. But I do remember the day it was confirmed for sure and blown open for my younger brother. We had come home from somewhere early for some reason and my mother was out buying the presents. When she came home and walked in with several shopping bags we never even would have though twice about it. She comes home from shopping all the time and brings stuff in. But she wasn’t a natural quick-thinking liar, and was SO SORRY she blew it for us and now we knew. It took me a few minutes to even realize what she was talking about, because there was nothing out of the ordinary. For me, it just confirmed what I already knew, but that was when my brother found out for sure.
I was about 8 and my best friend told me. I can say this after raising 4 kids, once they find out the truth Christmas is never the same and the magic is missing. I am glad I have grandchildren that have brought the magic back but before long they will know too. As I get older, I appreciate the spiritual side a lot more.
Thanks for sharing the light show~, Very beautiful!. I was 6 and my older sister was 8, we were snooping in our house and found our presents a few days before Christmas. My sister new but didn’t tell me until after we found the gifts!
I have only just found out from you two in this video Boo Hoo!!!!!!
Probably about the age of 6 or 7 at school like you.
About 5 years old I knew for certain.
I distinctly remember never getting a straight answer out of anyone when I’d ask family members about it. This caused problems because we were raised not to lie, and yet here it is, it seemed they were lying.
However, I did believe these dogs really were trained to sing Jingle Bells and not fakes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdqupRP7UNk
Ah, those were the days.
Santa would visit every once in a while on Christmas eve, on one visit he went downstairs to the basement with our dad and they were down there for awhile, so me and my siblings decided to go down and see what was going on and we saw santa with his beard pulled down under his chin having a beer and smoking a cigar. turned out to be our uncle Joe. I was probable 6 or 7 years old.
I don’t have any memory of suddenly finding out about Santa. I remember kids talking about it in school. I also remember my mom saying Santa was a way to physically represent the Spirit of Love and Giving. I enjoyed watching the video montage with your music.
My father had a clown troup of which I became a member at an early age.(5-6)so I learned early that it was the spirit of Christmas that was special and not a fat man in a suit. I was sworn to secrecy until I was around nine.
I was seven and at first grade in school. The Santa in the school´s Christmas feast sounded very much like a one man in our village. I became certain in same Christmas at home. In Finland Santa gives the presents at Christmas Eve and visits in the house, My father wet out to see that will find our house, Then Santa came while my father was out but strangely he wore exactly same kind of trousers as my father and his voice sounded very familiar.
I can’t remember ever believing in Father Christmas, when I was 3 or 4 maybe. One of my traits (which can make life rather boring at times) is that when presented with certain situations I can see the whole picture almost instantaneously. Father Christmas was just too unbelievable for me even at that young age and I soon twigged what was really happening. I did my best to not spoil it for others, especially my brothers (both younger than me). However, my brothers worked it out at a young age as well but, like you, it almost made it more special for us. We really loved our Christmas stockings and realised (and appreciated) the inventiveness, imagination and time and effort that our mother put into them. It gave us a real sense of being loved and wanted.
You are just natural entertainers with your whistleblower skit and clips of your visit to the Christmas Walk and, of course, your music videos. I know that your passion is music but you could easily include comedy and, no doubt, drama items on your website such is your collective imagination.
Today’s prizes are something that I would really like to win as I’m looking for a new top. If I don’t win I’ll just have to visit your store!
Hello Ladies,
Well now I can fuss a bit at you both.
What if a child that continues to believe in Santa reads or hears there is no Santa? Like Maddie from Pittsburgh. (Don’t know if she does or not) it wouldn’t make me feel good if I let the cat out of the bag. And someone found out this way.
Playing the part in assisting the real Fat Boy is half the fun. I love helping out the big guy every year. Isn’t that what part if the spirit of Christmas is all about?
My parents set me down when I was about 9 and explained that they helped Santa, but I had to keep that a secret.
Maria was 14 when her mom told her to grow up and learn the truth. I got so mad.
Loved the tour of lights. What a nice gift. Pretty lights and scenery. Lisa I love all the colors in your hat today. ????????
Have a great Day Ladies.
Rick
PS stop for a minute and Remember the World 80 years ago today. December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor.
Hi Rick,
Thanks to your mindful comment we could prevent any spoilers for Maddie. I now put an alert underneath the video in case others are watching our videos with their kids or grandkids.
Thank you!
Thank you Michaela for your grace and care in putting up a spoiler alert. As its been said before the Wagner family are some of the most caring individuals ever. Thank you for being so kind.
Rick
I’ve always known that Santa Claus was the Spirit of Love and Giving and represented St. NIcholas – and I believe he and his spirit live today.
You look fabulous in the Christmas lights trail – especially with “rosy red cheeks”!
How is it possible for each you to look more beautiful each day in these Advent videos?
I look forward each day to sharing time with you girls!
Congrats to the winners!
MLT hoodies are the best hoodies of all hoodies in the world of hoodies! ???? They are so warm, feel nice, and look fantastic groovy cool! Good luck to all for tomorrows draw.
That looked like the Christmas family outing perfection, with delicious food in cozy little place, and off to the Christmas light trails. Looked cooool too. Nice dance moves Lisa, I was holding my breath for a moon walk! ???????? I am sure it would have been the groovy best. That looked like a wonderful setting surrounded by forest, hiking on a trail, taking in the Christmas spirit lights. That carpet of lights on the ground looked amazing. Thanks for sharing your beautiful Christmas season evening with us all.
Loved your Christkind story. It’s so cute, how you confronted your parents about the truth about the Christkind in the car, and you continued to keep the secret so as not to spoil it for the other kids. For me a memory that stands out about Santa Claus is one Christmas family get together with our cousins, they really believed in Santa and convinced me Santa was real. That cousin, two years younger than me went into politics and she is now a Canadian Senator LOL. I guess she had naturally endowed talents for that. The first ever Korean Canadian in the federal government! Anyway back to the Santa story. I think going Christmas shopping with my parents and seeing them get gifts for everyone eventually made me realize Santa is just a legend.
Thanks for another wonderful Advent morning. ????❤
It was just one of those things that about age 7 or 8 my friends had been talking about how there was no Santa so I stayed up and listened and I remember hearing my parents getting all the gifts out and putting them under the tree then they would always leave our stocking at the end of our bed so that we had something to open in the morning before my parents got up. So I just figured it our on my own.
I don’t remember ever believing in Santa Claus. Our presents were always marked from who in the family gave it. Of course I’m 70 and my memory isn’t what it used to be so maybe there was a story but I don’t remember it.
Also, I loved seeing the video of your walk through the lights. Paired with your music, it was magical and put me in the Christmas spirit!
My parents told us from the beginning that Santa Claus was the Spirit of Giving but that he needed the help of parents. Somehow, that made sense to me as a child and I still found the season magical. It also helped me deal with inner concerns about why some children received so much or others did not. So to answer the question: there wasn’t an age that I discovered that Santa wasn’t real – the Spirit of Giving is alive and well!
Wait, what?!? No Santa Claus?!? But for 69 years he’s been bringing me stuff!….. ok just joking. I remember one Christmas Eve my brother and I were up in our bedroom, but not fast asleep, and we could here my dad cussing and swearing while trying to put together a scooter that Santa was supposed to bring me. After a good laugh, we thought……Santa doesn’t cuss and swear….does he? I believe that was my first hint that Santa was bogus.
I guess I had a charmed childhood, never suspecting or overhearing anything. Then one day when I was nine my mom told me very soberly that she had something important to tell me, and we went for a long slow walk in our backyard. After the revelation, I had immediate follow-up questions about the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy.
I probably should have been upset, but my mom said that as the oldest kid it was my responsibility to keep the secret from my siblings and just play along, so I felt that I had just been initiated into an adult world that I didn’t understand yet.
Being the eldest as well I can empathise with you here. Not in the case of Santa Claus but on many occasions that I found things out or was told about them and realising or being asked not let the rabbit out of the hat for my brothers or school friends.
It’s hard to remember that far back. I believe I also found out from a friend, and then had to be told not to tell my siblings. I do remember my kids finding out in a similar fashion, but I can’t remember their exact ages either. Exact ages aside, it was a “rite of passage”, a small step on our path to adulthood.
Before I started school, my parents thought it was time to tell me, so that I wouldn’t hear it from the other kids in school or be made fun of. So one fateful day, my mum sat down with me and told me that Santa Claus didn’t exist. I don’t remember it, but apparently I was really upset, and concluded right away: “But then there’s no Easter bunny either, is there?!” 🙂
Hi All. I believe I overheard a couple of my older cousins discussing it.
Hi Mona and Lisa! Thank you for sharing your adventures! My story is similar to you as a classmate spilled the beans. I do not remember when it was but it was shocking at the time to find out Santa Claus is your parents.
Yea I finally did this right ! THANK YOU Michaela !!! So cool to see everyone’s comments. And congratulations to all the winners!! I found out when I was 10 from my best friend Neil. And I did not want my parents to know because I felt if they knew I would not get any presents!! LOL…But we was walking to school and Neil said so you do know that Santa is not real right? And I was shocked and said no way and he said his dad has a santa outfit and last year he had one eye open and knew it was his dad. So far our Little Maddie still believes she is 8 but I have a feeling she might have an idea.
This is so cool, I Love that you do this every year so wow keep it coming and you never saw my post but we have a park in our community that has a light up each year and I donate a tree for my mom and dad and seeing you both in your video looks like us going thru the park with all the lights, thank you for sharing
Bill and Maddie Isenberg
When I was 6yrs old my friend told me there was no Santa, Tooth Fairy, or Easter Bunny. So, I had to rush home and tell my 4 yr old sister????. I really enjoyed the video of your evening in the forest!
What! You mean Father Christmas is not real? LOL
Only 60 odd years old and still a believer in Chris Cringle.
Found out about 7 years old, but never believed the propaganda that he is not real.
BTW, loved the whistle-blower sketch with the voice changer. Great stuff…hilarious.
My brother, who is one year older than me, told me a minute after he was told by our older sister. He also told me many, many times over the course of my childhood that I had been adopted to do their chores.
Good morning. I found out from kids at school and confirmed it with my older brothers. It wasn’t too disappointing because my parents always had plenty of presents for us all.
Probably my older sister “spoilt” it for me about 8/9 years old 🙁
I found out when I was ten eight years old, my older brother told me that the Christ Child were our parents. He found out where they kept the gifts that they would leave us at birth (portal de belen).
Best regards.
And here’s the Upper Canada Village specific link of Xmas Lights festival to give you an idea, again, similar to what you experienced the other night :
https://www.uppercanadavillage.com/events/alight-at-night/
I haven’t been to Upper Canada Village in years but it is an amazing place. The bread they bake there is the best!
I’ve only been there the once ….for the Halliween lights dusplay…The Elvis one rocked
Hello all. I first found out about no real Santa at age 6. We were living in a very small apt off Sherman Place in Waukegan Illinois. My Mom at that time was a single parent working Police/fire dispatch in the day and she still danced Burlesque at night June Redrider) so my room was small like a large closet. My older sister got the large room. My mother forgot to close my door, I could see the tree in plain view. I saw my mother putting together our toys to put under the tree. I never told her, but that’s when I stopped believing in Santa, however I still believed in the magic. Stay Groovy!❤????
What are you telling me we only went to Lapland 3 years ago and we see Santa with the kids in his cabin. The reindeers even took us there, and now you are telling me he is not real?
However saying that when I was 7 years old, I was a sleep and my mother came in my bedroom and said Santa was walking down the road and I looked out my window and there he was, so excited I could not sleep and kept awake and later on my dad was bring presents into my bedroom with no Santa. I then realised he was not real, well not in the UK anyway
Here’s link to Wesley Clover Parks one to give you an idea :
https://wesleycloverparks.com/events/magic-of-lights-ottawa-2/
The video footage from your Xmas Light Forest Walk reminds me of what they have in my area of where I live, about an hour’s drive up in Upper Canada Village, they do a Halloween one (I’ve only ever been to there once and it was for the Halloween version , never been to Xmas version, yet ) and same kind of concept, you walk around the Village area and see the Xmas Lights http://www.uppercanadavillage.com and there’s another one more local , closer to me in Kanata at an Equestrian Park at Wesley Clover Equestrian Park that I’ve not been to, yet , only accessible by car, and I don’t drive, Thankyou for sharing montage clips from tge other night, it looks stunning, all had a wonderful evening of it all ????
I found out about age 5/6 through a school friend (though I’ve never stopped believing in the magic)
The light trail looks wonderful, we did one last year at Bedgebury near where we live and it was so cool ???? ???????? Where was your one??
Why do you ask: does Santa Claus not exist? Well, it’s difficult to say. I found out about the Easter bunny because the tablecloth of our kitchen table before Easter always had the same color spots as the Easter eggs and my parents had colorful fingers. But Santa Claus? This guy must have been damn clever. To be honest: the main role in the Christmas season had the Christ Child. It always put the presents under the Christmas tree. I got suspicious for the first time when I found my Christmas presents in my parents’ closet (not that I was looking for them on purpose, pure coincidence…) But at that point, I had my first doubts about whether the Christ Child really existed (and I also had strong doubts about Santa Claus. It had to be a conspiracy.) I must have been 5 or 6 years old at the time.
I found out Santa wasn’t real when I was eight years old laying in bed at night and I could hear my parents arguing in the next room over what present was going to be from Santa. I never told my younger siblings. I felt like I was part of some great secret too.
Uh, So long ago….lol…but I’m going to peg it at between 8-10 yrs old when I made the startling revelation-realization of recognizing Mom’s distinctive handwriting on Santa’s Thankyou Note for cookies n milk and made the connection and thus was a tad heartbroken to now know it was Mom for most part that was Santa all those childhood yrs….lol…. ????????