First time you found out Santa wasn't real - another festive memory

For the inspiration behind this blog click here.

Has the festive spirit landed wherever you are yet? Are you ready for Christmas? Bought all the presents, got the tree up, made your Christmas pudding?

It's geting colder here and although no sign of snow on the East coast of Scotland, I've got a feeling its coming our way. The temperature is dropping nicely, Jack Frost is flexing his muscles in the morning, and the snow is falling on the hills to the north. I can't remember the last time we had a white Christmas here, but whilst it would be nice, its not a deal breaker is it?

And of course Santa is coming! At least that's what I told my little niece this weekend. She's really excited and is at that age where the whole thing is just one big, happy, red and white mystery. Already her parents have had to explain why there are so many "Santa's" in the town shopping malls, and she's only 3 years old!

Oh I really hope the mystery stays alive for many more years. I don't know these days when the big secret is let out. Are kids about seven or eight? Perhaps younger? When did you find out?

Here's another story about when the truth came out. This friend is from Australia and was truly aminated over her G&T as she remembered....

Keep him in the family

“I found out about Santa from my cousin. We were playing in the yard at his house – playing "tag". I must have been about six and he would be a couple of years older than me. As we were tagging each other he whispered to me that Santa wasn’t real. Of course I didn’t believe him, in fact I don’t think I believed I really heard him. He said it again and I just stopped playing. I looked over at him and told him I didn’t believe him - who else could it be if it wasn't Santa?. When he started tagging me again, he told me it was my Dad and Mum who were Santa.

That was the final straw! It was funny really, I got so panicky. I ran back to my house to tell Mum. I was short of breath and kind of panting out this story about what a liar my cousin was. I have such a clear memory of this its wierd. We were standing int he kitchen and she has such a shocked look on her face – it was just so out of the blue. She told me my cousin was right, that Santa wasn't real.

Can you imagine the look on my face? I was standing there, mouth wide open, jaw almost to the floor!

Now don’t have a go at my Mum. Please. (she's laughing at this point, clearly noting the horror on my face that her Mum could be so matter-of-fact about it all).

She didn’t blow the whole deal there and then. Instead, she told me there was no Santa Claus for people like my cousin! She told me that my cousin was right in a way, in that Santa didn’t visit homes like ours because we were fortunate to have some money in the bank. Because not everyone was as fortunate, he visited children like my cousin! D’you know, put like that, it sounds like its means tested!

I ran back to my cousin’s yard and told him he was right. I didn’t say any more than that because I didn’t want to spoil it for him. I'm a nice cousin aren't I?”