It must be Xmas, here comes this story again....

[Big RR]

I would think a lot of it depends on how long the parents carried on the ruse, and how they responded when asked a direct question about it. if parents insisted Santa was really bringing presents to everyone well beyond the time when a kid pretty much knew he wasn't, maybe they might feel duped (especially if they insisted he was real to their peers who knew better), but I think most people drop the façade early enough to prevent this. And I do think there is some value in kids having a time where they can believe in fantasy and are encouraged to do so.

And BSG--you raise the point of Santa supposedly bringing free gifts to all causing some bad feelings when they didn't get what they wanted--I don't recall how my parents communicated this (as I was pretty young), but I always thought Santa sent my parents some sort of bill--just like the electric and gas company and landlord. With my kids, I told them we all tried to help Santa out as much as we could as everything had a cost. Again, we never really played it up all that much and by the time they were around 6 they pretty much knew the truth but still liked playing the game (just like they enjoyed believing unicorns were real or at least once existed).

[Lord Jim]

Hatch still gets "Santa presents" even though she's 20 next month!

So does Tati...her fears were unfounded...

[MajGenl.Meade]

[Jarlaxle]

Tati admitted a couple of years ago that she had actually stopped believing in Santa when she was nine, (unbeknownst to us she woke up and saw us assembling a Santa present late on Christmas Eve) but continued to pretend that she believed for two more years, not because she thought she wouldn't get any presents, but because she thought she wouldn't get any more "Santa presents"...

Hatch still gets "Santa presents" even though she's 20 next month!

I got a present that was (allegedly) from my cats last year...a beard trimmer. The tag on the package (under the wrapping paper) said "for trimming your whiskers, not ours."

(I think my wife, my mother, my stepfather, or all three are Grade A wise-asses.)

[BoSoxGal]

LJ, the funniest thing about you, and the post you made earlier in this thread about me, and others you've made about me, rubato and several other posters here is that YOU actually believe yourself.

It's funny, but also pitiful.

Go ahead, Jim, make me your newest target. I'm not running away.

When I leave here it's by my choice, and it's not about your objectionable actions - which, however, if you go back and re-visit, you'll see were remarked on as objectionable by a number of the posters whose opinions I have actual respect for - I haven't had respect for yours since the first time you asserted a better understanding of the law than the lawyers who post here, and that time toward me wasn't the first time, Jim.

As it happens, I left this oh-so-important venue when I was in the process of moving and accepting a new job which came with a great deal more responsibility than I already had as an overworked and overburdened ADA.

My exasperation with you and your truly disgusting nastiness toward me then only made it easier for me to make the decision and stick by it for a long time. And here's a big reveal: although in attempting to persuade you to quit with the rubato crap I said all manner of things about respecting you and enjoying your posts (feeding into your ego), since it has had no effect, I'll now let you know that you've been on my foes list for 80% of the time since I returned, and you're going there again when I hit 'submit' on this post.

I've seen you unleash your nastiness on others several times, and didn't like it then, either - you seem to perversely enjoy excoriating people well beyond anything they deserve, and you've done so many times here and at CSB - with an air of 'now that LJ says it, it's THE TRUTH' that inclines very much toward narcissism - and drawn comments from others, not just me.

I think my almost-minor in psychology at university, + life experience of 44 years, + 20-odd years dealing with all manner of psychological profile (verified by actual licensed psychologists/psychiatrists) in my various occupations within the legal realm = my fair amount of confidence in profiling you accurately.

See, Jim, you WANT attention. It's clear from the volume and content of your posts here that it's something you crave, as well as the approval of other posters agreeing with your position and thus being in the embrace of the 'LJ clique'. I was there once until I disagreed with you, and then I was excoriated with all manner of nastiness, as have others when they went astray of agreeing with you. Then there are those who never disagree with you - or at least not strenuously - because they can read the tea leaves and are smarter than that.

I will be perfectly happy to visit this place every day and never read a single post that you post, and will not care one bit if you don't read mine. I'm pretty sure that whatever you post next - and I'm sure it will be another screed about my alleged 'craziness' and how you couldn't possibly care less about me - it's gonna bug you that I think you're a useless twat with too much time on his hands and an ego that is outsized by a factor of ten from what he thinks is justified.





In the long run of your life, Jim, will you think back on all these hours you spend educating all of us, and telling some of us that (because you think it, it is SO) we are garbage, here on the interwebs as time well spent, when you could be choosing to spend even half of that time with your family? Does Mrs. LJ ever comment on how much time you spend posting? Only you know. And God.

[Gob]

Yet another lecture from the

[Lord Jim]

BSG, the one thing I can be sure of from that last post of yours, is this...

I must play a much larger role in your life, then you do in mine...

(I don't want to be cruel, but the whole tone and content of that post sounds like the rantings of an angry ex-girlfriend... having been there, I know what that sounds like... )

Have a

[BoSoxGal]

What's really "HEAD GIRL" is that I'm forced to view your posts, Gob, because you're an administrator.

Surely you could administrate under another login, so that your other posting would be subject to equality here in that folks who wanted to could put you on ignore? I'm sure the technology readily exists; I've seen it on a few other internet boards.

Let's see you be all "HEAD GIRL" and give me that option. Doesn't hurt you, does it?

[Gob]

can't be fucked.

[BoSoxGal]

Adolescent pig-piling is our middle name, apparently.

Hey, thanks for not letting me down in my apparently-occasionally-correct profiling of poster personality. Much obliged!

[TPFKA@W]

Jim I have to say that Tati's story is a lot like mine although I don't honestly remember EVER believing in Santa. I do recall thinking that it was very important that the adults continue to believe that I did simply from an economic standpoint.

As for head girl, wow. If she ever gets on meds in the right dosages she is really going to be embarrassed by all of this. Meanwhile if she has all of us on ignore I am sure the voices will keep her entertained.

[Sue U]

It seems to me that the only appropriate answer to any child's question about whether Santa Claus is real is, "Well, what do you think?" By the time children start asking this question they will already be working out an answer.

When my own son asked at around 4 or 5 years of age, he told me, "Santa Claus isn't real, but the spirit of Santa Claus is." I think he must have heard this somewhere, because I'm not sure he yet grasped what it was he was saying; nevertheless, he seemed to find it a very satisfactory answer to whatever his issues were.

And I think that all in all, it is quite the best answer to that question I have ever heard.

With that, merry Christmas to you all, and to all, a good night!

[Gob]

When my own son asked at around 4 or 5 years of age, he told me, "Santa Claus isn't real, but the spirit of Santa Claus is."

FMP!! That's a lawyer's son's answer is it not? "I know it's fake, but I'm not spoiling my chances of presents".

Have a great Xmas Sue and family.

[Jarlaxle]

Jesus fuck...when did this place turn into a pack of bickering children? Grow the fuck up!

I'm gone, have a nice life.

[TPFKA@W]

Jesus fuck...when did this place turn into a pack of bickering children?

Since its inception? Actually well before that, several board generations ago.

[Joe Guy]

Have fun, relax, but above all BICKER!

[Beer Sponge]

I'm clearly the most mature one here.

[TPFKA@W]

I'm clearly the most mature one here.

Yeah, that's you alright!

[Lord Jim]

I believe Econo is the most mature person here...

Well, chronologically, anyway...

[Guinevere]

It seems to me that the only appropriate answer to any child's question about whether Santa Claus is real is, "Well, what do you think?" By the time children start asking this question they will already be working out an answer.

When my own son asked at around 4 or 5 years of age, he told me, "Santa Claus isn't real, but the spirit of Santa Claus is." I think he must have heard this somewhere, because I'm not sure he yet grasped what it was he was saying; nevertheless, he seemed to find it a very satisfactory answer to whatever his issues were.

And I think that all in all, it is quite the best answer to that question I have ever heard.

With that, merry Christmas to you all, and to all, a good night!

Pretty much the answer in our family. The littlest boy still believes. The older knows not to spoil it for him. The adults all believe in the spirit.

And to all, a good night (if only I could sleep)!!!!