• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

[NF] How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa?

GirlFromMars

New member
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
325
MBTI Type
INFP
How did it effect you? I put this in this section, because I get the impression this kind of thing would have matterd more to a lot of NF children, and were maybe late on the truth?

I was older than seemingly everybody else I knew. I was really upset, and it took away the magic of Christmas for me. I was so convinced he was real that I swear I saw him in the sky! It was obviously my imagination, but it was so vivid! The funny thing is, I was half scared of him. I wasn't really scared of him, but more so the idea of seeing him. I wanted to keep him in my head instead, because I thought it'd be scary actually seeing him (I dunno)

It was my half sister that told me. She didn't actually tell me, but she said it infront of me, and her kid that was a couple of years younger than me. She said something like "we have to pretend he's real for your little brother" to her other son. I was like ".......:huh:...*shakes head*....:cry: *heart breaks*" I didn't say anything, but inside I was like "that can't be true, he is real!". I also was upset that people lied to me about it! I tried to believe it, but I couldn't from then on, so I just carried on believing in other things, like my stuffed toys coming to life when I'm asleep. (I'm not making this stuff up.:doh:)

Bah, Christmas has never been the same since...

ETA: I wonder if having an INFJ mother (my only stable parent) had an impact? She was dead set on keeping me believing in him for as long as I could. She said it isn't as magical when you don't believe in him. She even still put out food and drink for him, and Rudolph a few years ago, and I'm 21! When I was like "..........why are you doing that?" she was just like "It's for Santa and Rudolph!" lmao, bless her.....strange woman!
 

KLessard

Aspiring Troens Ridder
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
595
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
1w2
I never believed in Santa Claus because I was never made to believe in him. My family is Christian, so Jesus' birth was the reason for the season. At three years old, the Christmas story was my favourite bedtime story, so I would have been very puzzled if you had come up to me with a Santa thing mixed up to it. It was pretty clear to me that my parents and relatives bought the presents under the tree. I started hearing about Santa in first grade, and felt so silly I had to write him a letter. The story of Saint Nicholas sounded good to me though, and that's the Santa I believed in, and we know he has existed. But I never believed in the one with the flying reindeers.

My INFP colleague once told me he stopped trusting mankind when he found out Santa Claus was a lie.
 
Last edited:

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
I realized there was no Santa Claus when I was seven or eight and saw my step-mother putting my Easter basket out very early one morning. I figured, hey, no Easter bunny, no Santa Claus.

I think in the back of my mind I already knew that Santa Claus was actually Daddy. Therefore, I was not traumatized. I was much more traumatized years later when I realized that Daddy was human and not infallable. Believing in Daddy is much more powerful than believing in Santa Claus.
 

Fidelia

Iron Maiden
Staff member
Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
14,497
MBTI Type
INFJ
I never really believed in him. I knew my presents came from my parents. I always had imaginary friends and I liked them very well, but I realized they were imaginary too. I liked getting letters from the Toothfairy, but I was always vaguely aware that they were penned by my mum or my aunt.
 

teslashock

Geolectric
Joined
Oct 27, 2009
Messages
1,690
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w6
Proteanmix has already told her children that Santa isn't real. She probably talks to her ovaries every night to make sure that even her gametes don't believe in that crap.

(I hope this post wasn't too inappropriate. Damn you tert Fe!)
 

GirlFromMars

New member
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
325
MBTI Type
INFP
OK, this might just be one of those "I'm weird" things, instead of "I'm NF" things. :huh: I blame my mum!
 

scortia

New member
Joined
May 23, 2009
Messages
201
MBTI Type
INFJ
Okay my story is pretty amusing. At a very young age... maybe six or seven... I used my T logic and came to the realization that there's no way Santa could be real. My presents were never wrapped like they were on tv, everyone pretended the mall santas were real when I could tell they weren't, we had a gas fireplace that he couldn't get into, and our windows had bars.

I presented my facts to my mother but she was clever... since I was little she'd say that ONE present was from her and dad. So at this point she explained to me that she and dad couldn't afford all those presents, yes only Santa could. Somehow this was enough to keep me in a strange purgatory of belief where I didn't question and sort of lost interest in questioning Santa's existence. My folks didn't have the money, so maybe the magic was real because you can't make money appear and my parents wouldn't lie to me afterall.

Well yeah, at ten or eleven years old some friends found out and laughed at me and I basically told them "ITS NOT LIKE YOUR PARENTS COULD AFFORD ALL THAT BY THEMSELVES!" ... then I went home and mom told me the truth. Ah embarrassment.
 

GirlFromMars

New member
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
325
MBTI Type
INFP
Well yeah, at ten or eleven years old some friends found out and laughed at me and I basically told them "ITS NOT LIKE YOUR PARENTS COULD AFFORD ALL THAT BY THEMSELVES!" ... then I went home and mom told me the truth. Ah embarrassment.

Awww! Haha.
 
B

beyondaurora

Guest
Okay, don't laugh...I was 10.

I asked my mom, "Why does Santa bring a lot of presents for me at Grandma and Grandpa's house at not at ours?" My mom thought I was onto the scheme (but even with that question, I hadn't quite put it all together), so she started laughing and confessed.

I felt very betrayed that all the people I loved lied to me for as long as I had been alive. It really made me distrust my family and made me realize just how shady people could be. I guess you could say that I'm still upset about it, so much so that I really think I won't do the whole "Santa" thing when I have kids.
 
Last edited:
P

Phantonym

Guest
Who says I've stopped believing? He's still residing in Finland. :D

Santa Claus wasn't that big of a deal when I was growing up. Or I just don't remember being that into him. It was all about the presents. No trauma involved, I guess the realization of his non-existence crept up on me gradually and naturally.

I do remember very vividly how I finally got a confirmation that elves do not exist. I was 5 years old.

We have a tradition here that kids put their slippers on the windowsills and put letters to Santa with gift requests in them. The elves are little pervs who watch the kids through the windows all year round to see if they're naughty or nice and when they're nice, some candy or little presents are put into the slippers all through December until Christmas Eve. The letters are delivered to Santa. Or disposed of by the parents, if you catch my drift. ;)

So, an innocent little kid that I was, I always put my slipper on the windowsill and wrote the letters nicely and neatly. One night I caught my mother red handed tinkering with the slipper and I KNEW! Instantly.

I guess I had always known that there was something fishy about it but when I finally got the confirmation, oh boy, that just made me feel so victorious. I didn't feel angry or let down. Hmm...maybe that's where my trust issues really stem from. :thinking:

And of course I had to go and blab all over about it. My little brother was 2 at the time and that little sucker refused to believe me. :laugh:
 

Snuggletron

Reptilian
Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
2,224
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
10
around 6 or 7. Asked my mom and she gave me a half-truth explanation, kind of felt a little uneasy about it too (it can be a big deal for a kid).
 

Virtual ghost

Complex paradigm
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
19,769
I am not a NF but I will share.


I never believed in him and at the age 5 I have set up a trap for my parents. Since I realized that something is "wrong"
What resulted with catching them while they were packing presents.


At first grade I rised hell by telling/explaining to other kids that entire thing is a fraud.
What resulted with alot of tears.


So no it was never traumatic experiance for me.
 

BMEF

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2009
Messages
50
I stopped believing in Santa probably when I was around 6-7 years old.
 

Andy

Supreme High Commander
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
1,211
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w6
I don't think I ever believed in Santa either, though I said I did, because I didn't want to upset my parents.
 

Queen Kat

The Duchess of Oddity
Joined
Apr 3, 2009
Messages
3,053
MBTI Type
E.T.
Enneagram
7w8
I was 6 and I got really mad at my parents for lying to me about this. I'm never going to teach my children about Santa.
 

WoodsWoman

New member
Joined
Dec 24, 2007
Messages
778
MBTI Type
INFP
I don't think I ever 'believed in' Santa - 'Santa' always had Mom's handwriting... but we played Santa, and put Santa on gift tags and thoroughly enjoyed the idea of Santa. Even now if some of us get together and want to give a bigger gift to one family member but don't want to say who specifically it's from - well - it's from Santa!
 

PureStealth

New member
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
Messages
18
MBTI Type
INTJ
I was about 3 years old, and went to a Christmas party where there was a Santa. I played with the other children, sat on Santa's lap, did all the Christmasy stuff, and went along with the whole deal. Then when I was on my way home in the car, I turned to my Mother and said "Jeremy's Grandad makes a good Santa doesn't he". It blew her away because I gave no indication up to that point that I was only playing along and didn't actually believe in Santa.

She is always telling people the story :p
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Maybe 4 or 5. I didn't see how it would be physically possible for him to get into the house. The chimney went into the furnace and the opening was far too small. There was no other way to get in. I actively sought evidence to prove my theory.
 
Top