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most 'precious' christmas stories

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by shockey, Nov 25, 2012.

  1. dreunc1542

    dreunc1542 Active Member

    I'm guessing Verse's parents never told him he'd go blind from masturbating.
     
  2. Care Bear

    Care Bear Guest

    I'm fairly sure that happened, based on his "Lindsay Lohan is hotter than Charlize Theron" posts.
     
  3. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Yep, I mentioned this on Page 1, but my best memories are all of when I was older and watching my sisters get so excited. My kids now are 12 and 10 and 4 and newborn, and the two older ones are going to have a great time with that.

    Boy is that untrue. The cutoff age range now is right around there, although I think some of the older ones are just trying to hang on for another year of gifts. It's funny, in some ways kids are growing up so much faster, but in other ways they stay so young. Maybe there are even kids out there who know what "Virgin Mary" means before they know Santa's a fake, who knows?

    I'd bet in your typical fourth-grade classroom (9/10 years old) you'd be looking at more than 50 percent still believing.
     
  4. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  5. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    I am curious as to how class and environment factor into this. I have talked with a few of my friends about the belief in Santa, more or less the main topic of this thread, and while I came from a poorer, urban background, most of them were middle-class suburbanites. They seem to be siding with you, that Santa was an acceptable belief until 9 or 10. I have clear memories of kids lampooning the idea in my early elementary school years, like first grade. And like I said in an earlier post, I also remember everyone saying you couldn't tell your parents you knew Santa was fake or you would get fewer presents.

    I think it's weird that a kid wouldn't google "Santa," though. The kids I know through work and family friends google everything. The "I googled 'murder' " scene from Knocked Up comes to mind.
     
  6. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Vers, a very good point on class and environment. The kids I'm thinking of, as a general rule the "helicopter mom" phenomenon comes into play, and that's of course usually a stay-at-home mom who wraps herself up in all her kids' joys and trials. Families like that a lot of times actively try to keep their kids younger, and this is one way to do that.
     
  7. Iron_chet

    Iron_chet Well-Known Member

    The whole class thing is sort of funny and I wonder if there is something to it. I still remember being told I runied Christams when I went to our more upper middle class Aunt and Uncles house on the West coast.

    I was in grade 1 and my cousins were a year younger and 2 years older. I told them Santa did not exist and caused an uproar. My cousins were from a stable 2 parent home and I had a single mom just scraping by.

    FWIW my 15 year old stepdaughter has never actually said she does not believe in Santa. Having known her for 10 years she never actually had the "I don't believe" conversation, probably did not want to endanger her gift haul!
     
  8. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    this point has been made a few times -- that kids hold onto their belief so their christmas gifts will keep on a comin'...are there really families that stop giving their children christmas gifts once the stopped 'believing?' we sure as heck didnt cut 'em off. sure, as kids get older thhere are fewer gifts but the ones they do get are more expensive...heck. until they passed away mrs. shockey, her siblings and our families spent every xmas eve at mommy and papi's -- and they still had their kids' santa boots hanging on the fireplace, stuffed with goodies and we sure as heck havent stopped giving the stooges xmas gifts and they're 22, 19 and 17 and have all been non-believers for a dozen years. were we supposed to have cut 'em off?
     
  9. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Hey, I believe!



    Well, I know steak exists, anyway.
     
  10. Norrin Radd

    Norrin Radd New Member

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  11. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    False correlation produces illogical fear. Little kids see bigger kids getting fewer gifts and don't process the value of those gifts (or, as is often the case for teens, gift cards). Then one day they realize Santa is mom and dad. They connect dots without proper perspective and assume that, because older kids, who generally don't believe in Santa, get fewer gifts than younger kids, who generally do believe in Santa, telling their parents about their new knowledge will lead to fewer Christmas presents.
     
  12. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    I think that's a very astute theory.
     
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