The Ghost of Christmas Disappointment

Well I've never had coal in my Christmas stocking, so he must be real! X

Santa Claus - the Movie with Dudley Moore is really him you know. Best Christmas film ever.

As a child I lived in a rambling farmhouse and Santa always came down the chimney in our ''High days, holidays and funeral teas'' room. There was another room which was rather grandly called 'the playroom' which was accessed through the first. I was always scared of going through on my own (at any time of the year!) in case Santa came down the chimney and saw me. And as for going through in the dark .............. not bloomin likely as we did not have electric then so no light switch !

Everybody (in our family) knows that all the presents in your stocking are from Santa. The presents other people give you are all downstairs in the living room.

I remember having Scarlet fever when I was five and seeing Santa creep into my room and leave presents. Years later I used to tell my mother that I saw his red suit and felt it really was him, she spoilt it by saying I had a very high temperature and was delirious all over the Christmas period

My DD has discovered an app for her phone that will tell if you are on Santa's nice or naughty list. DGS1 was misbehaving, and after a good telling off she showed him Santa's naughty list and he was horrified to see his name on it. He was well behaved and very good to all his siblings for the rest of the day, so at bedtime she showed him Santa's nice list. He was extremely relieved to find his name there, and has tried his very best to be good since, which is quite difficult for him as he has Asbergers Syndrome and his mood swings can be volatile to say the least.

We called at DD's house this afternoon, and as we were leaving, she asked conspiratorially "Is the big box you brought over the other day from you, or from Santa?" "From Santa of course," I said, "Who else would it be from?" I don't know if GS, an otherwise quite sophisticated 7 year old, has doubts about Santa, but I like to think he's clinging onto a vestige of the magic of it all, although maybe not for much longer. We still track Santa's sleigh on the NASA website on Christmas Eve!

Sorry that's NORAD, not NASA!

Well, I'm sorry folks I KNOW he is real. He visited me when I was 6 and ill in bed at home and my mum and dad were with him. He was the image of the FC you see on Christmas cards - smiley and rotund - and he brought me a little blue dolls cot with a little pink doll in it. He didn't stay long because of course he was busy.
So when the GC ask if FCC is real I just tell them this true story

He was driving a bus here on Saturday, beard, whiskers, red robe and all. I think he must be moonlighting to pay for all those presents.

One year I got a new school blazer !!
Don't remember any fun stuff.

Both of mine were almost ten when they stopped believing. In both cases it was caused by moving schools

DD, aged almost ten was in the top year at her primary school and with the rest of her class was given the task of writing to the younger children, pretending to be Father Christmas. She came home in floods of tears and was still grizzling on xmas day.

DS as a chorister had to board, so of course there were no surprise stockings. Instead he was told that we had to buy 20 small toys, one for each chorister, and they would be dished out between their stockings. He was far more philosophical about it, having correctly surmised that most of the other parents had more money than us so maybe he would do quite well out of it!

However, both of them say that they too would carry on the tradition if possible, because they loved having that belief in magic. The DGCs don't have a visit from Santa until they are at our house, because we have a chimney and my daughter feels that she wants them to have the same experience of sending their letters up the chimney that she had. It does rather sound from your experiences on here as if DGS's days as a believer are numbered, as he is six. He has quite a few older boy cousins, which won't help. I remember having to bribe one of my nephews to keep quiet.

Two of our DGC were just getting into our car this afternoon, when up our very quiet road pedalled Santa on his bike. He had all his red gear on and had a flowing white beard, but no cycling helmet I'm afraid. He was followed by 2 small children cycling behind along the pavement.
"Well", said DGS, "You don't see that everyday." Aged 8, he still half believes.

I was in the delivery room pushing my 10lb 5oz son out in the early hours of Christmas morning when Santa came to visit. He came into the room, took my pulse and left a teddy bear for the baby.

I also had a baby at Christmas, DD2 will be 40 this year. When baby and I were being pushed on a trolley to the ward, I noticed 2 strangely dressed people standing in the corridor and wondered who they had come to visit at that early hour (it was 2am).
In the cold light of Christmas morning when I staggered to the bathroom I realised they were part of a Nativity scene and were life-sized Mary and Joseph.

Later that day, still high on many, many drugs (10lb 5oz first baby still makes me cringe lol), I was wheeled into another ward for a Christmas service. The vicar was wearing a kilt or at least I think he was because I daren't ask anyone in case I was hallucinating. It was a very surreal service as we were all laid in beds in various drugged up states with a man in a kilt wandering around singing and giving us bread and wine (I'm sure the wine wasn't a good idea on top of everything else we were full of lol).