Is Father Christmas real?

Of course he's real, he gave me a kiss once!

What are you trying to say? Of course Father Christmas is real ....isn't he?
ella and ana you know this don't you?

my son was about 14 he,s 46 now

My parents broke it gently to me that Santa was not real. I replied that I knew that, but had not said anything in case I then got no presents.

With our children we sort of moved gradually from Santa bringing presents to us buying the presents for Santa to bring and they sussed out for themselves that Santa glimpsed filling stockings in the middle of the night looked a lot like Daddy.

We never put their "real" presents at the foot of their beds, but under the Christmas tree. The stockings were on the beds, with an orange, an apple, a few sweets, and some small inexpensive things to keep them occupied for a while. No big presents were opened until after breakfast had been cleared away - this meant that everyone was keen to help tidy up.

By the time everything had been opened, inspected and played with for a while, it was time to get dressed and fit to go to paternal grandparents for lunch. After that was over, parcels from them to all of us and from us to them were exchanged, along with the ones exchanged with aunt and uncle and cousin. The ones from maternal grandparents were kept until we were back home again.

That way the excitement was spread over the day - and we could watch the unwrapping with pencil and paper in hand and know who to thank for what.

And I am an ex-teacher so I can keep a straight face about anything.
We always take them to the pantomime, but the local one without soapstars.
It's as traditional as Santa, except for Spanish daughter-in-law. The Danish one had never seen a pantomime until she came with us, and now she's into magic as much as the rest of us. The first one she saw was Dick Whittington, and she did not have a clue!
Grandson does not want to come but he enjoys it when he gets there although we do seem to spend more time answering his questions than watching the action. He has ASD.

Yes, that's right, Ella - they're not the real Father Christmas!

But Greatnan all those other Santas are just his helpers!

My grandson has just found out that there is no such thing as a tooth fairy, when he found his dad removing his tooth and replacing it with a pound coin. He's ten. His dad said not to tell his sister, but keep it as a big secret between them.
Today I took him and his five year old sister to the coffee shop. The vicar's wife came in with her son, who is in Sam's class. I went to the toilet and when I came back all four of them were having a conversation about how Santa knows everything and he knows where they are all going to be at Christmas.
So two ten year olds, a five year old and a vicar's wife are still in collusion about Santa. And me of course.
If I get asked by any of my grandchildren - and the other two are 19 and 12 - if I believe in Santa, I say of course, who else brings my presents?
It's so obvious, if you don't believe, you don't get any presents.

My daughters have obviously inherited my cynical attitude - they had sussed out by the time they were about four that all the different Santas they saw could not all be true. They didn't tell me until a couple of years later, because, they said, they didn't want to spoil it for me!
I am not sure how parents who teach their children that god is real differentiate between the Almighty and Santa.

We always insisted that he was real, for as long as they expected to have a pillow slip of presents at the foot of the bed on Christmas morning.
Anyone who expressed any doubts was told that he would not come if they didn't believe in him.
The crunch came when we got to the stage where the 'children' were still in the pub at the time when mrA and I wanted to go to bed.
I told them that I had had an email from Father Christmas saying that he now had an excessive workload and with immediate effect would only be going to the houses in Newcastle where the children were aged under 18.
From then on the stocking fillers were placed under the tree with the main presents

My smallest grandchild is 7 and still chooses to believe even though her older brother and school chums have told her differently and thats fine with us. I think be guided by the child if they choose to carry on believing then keep the illusion alive for them as long as they want to..

Don`t know about my grandchildren, but I was about 10, and my kids were about 8 or 9, when it dawned.

My DGDs are six and still believe in him! So I'm afraid I can't help, but would be interested to hear some tips from others for the inevitable moment...

When I was first asked this question, I asked it back, along the lines of "well, what do you think?"

I can't truly remember at what age each of the boys were when the truth came out, but bearing in mind that there was 10.5 years difference between them, I do remember DS1 being put under pain of death( well, maybe not death exactly, but the withdrawal of any presents) NOT to tell DS2!