I also was told that due to not having a chimney, Santa had a magic key. I would listen intently, and I swore one year I hear the keys jingling then opening the front door!

anon

I used to believe that santa existed (stipid I know), and I really wanted to see him, so, somehow, I managed to get to sleep, or just about, with my eyes open.

I was so disappointed I almost cried when I didn't see him, and I still didn't make the connection between the presents and my mum coming in with a bag full of boxes until the next year.

Anyway, my eyes hurt like hell the next morning.

Kamikazejay

I believed in Santa Claus up until I was 8 years old. My father had given me a note from "Santa", but then I recoginzed his hand writing on the note and relized my father had written it. And that was the year I stopped believing.

Emily

Altho I was skeptical about Santa, each holiday something would happen to assure me that I should continuing believing in him.
1 - Daddy was unemployed for months and we lived off his savings account money, yet Santa delivered more toys for my brother and me that year more than in previous years.

2 - Another year we found his footprints and all his reindeer's footprints in the backyard snow. His prints led to the house and back to his sleigh and the reindeer prints were all lined up as one would expect them to be with one reindeer in front of the next. (They landed in our back yard because there was ice on the roof.

3 - One other year Santa arrived early in our neighborhood - about 5 pm. We were told that he had to start his nightly round extra early that year because there were so many more children to visit than in previous years. Our neighborhood was selected as an early visiting location. We had to stay in our rooms because Santa had to work quickly and did not want us in his way.
My brother and I hid in my bedroom at the end of the hall. We could hear the jingle bells growing closer and closer as Santa came down the street. I heard him come to the front door (since we had no fireplace). He knocked on the door, said Ho, Ho, Ho to my parents who talked to him as he unloaded his bag. Mom was making her comments like "Oh, she's going to love that...... He will have hours of fun playing with that"....
My bro. & I laid on our bellies trying to see through the crack between the bottom of the door and the floor. We could distinctly see Santa's boots with snow sliding off of them. Later when we came out of the bedroom, sure enough, melted snow remained on the carpet right where we had seen the boots standing.

Our parents thanked Santa for coming and he wished them a Merry Christmas. We heard him depart as the bells jingled on down the street.

All the kids we played with who lived on the our street had Santa visit early. We all shared our experiences and no one could have convinced any of us that year that Santa was anyone other then who we believed him to be.

Here was a community effort with assistance from the volunteer firefighters keeping the Christmas spirit alive for at least 10 little friends.

Our mother was known for returning Christmas gifts after Christmas, but never did she return anything that Santa left.

blfs

because we didnt have a chimney, my older brother used to tell me that father christmas used 2 get into the house to deliver presents by using his shrinking machine to become reallly small and jumping through the letter box and then becoming normal size and deliver the presents by Christmas tree

Anon

My older brother told me one Christmas Eve that if I was awake when Father Christmas arrived he would instruct an elf to sew me up in a sack and take me off on his sleigh forever-never to be seen again. No one was allowed to see Father Christmas! Needless to say I was petrified that night...

Anon

When I was young we had a wood stove in the living room, but one year my dad wanted to move it outside. I was upset and asked my parents, "How is Santa goign to get in the house now?" My dad quickly told me Santa would use the dryer vent, and I believed him. So after that I pictured Santa entering and leaving through the dryer.

MichelleLB in Cinci.

When my Dad and my uncle were boys, there beds were next to each other. One christmas, the tied a piece of fishing to the bottom post of their bed so santa would trip over it and they would prove santa was real...

it wasn't until the heard a crash in the middle of the night and found their dad tangled in the wire, that they thought they'd succeeded.

Steph Oakley

I always saw christmas movies which depicted the dream man that would come and sprinkle dust on you and make you fall asleep at night so you wouldn't disturb Santa. I used to think that he was also the one that slowed time on Christmas so tha Santa could get to every house. So if I woke up in the middle of the night I always thought the time was going real slow and I would move slowly sometimes too!! LOL!!

Lucy K.

We don't have a chimney so when i was little i asked my mum how he got into the house, he had a magic key apparently.

Emma

When I was younger, my little sister and I used to sleep in the attic on Christmas eve, and one year I couldn't fall asleep (too excited) and distinctly (according to my imagination) hear jingle bells and reindeer's hooves on the roof. In the morning, I told my sister about it, and for the next five years or so she stayed up late Christmas eve listening for Santa to land on the roof again.

Anon

i used to believe in santa cluas the easter bunny and the tooth fairy but my mean music teacher told me it wasnt real in grade 2.

nikki frazer

When i was about 4 and my sister was 3, we refused to go to bed on Christmas Eve. So, on this paticular Christmas Eve, My sister and I were in our room and our mother was trying to put us to bed. She said that if we were awake, Santa wouldn't come. At that moment, we heard bells and footsteps on the roof. She told us that Santa stopped by to check on us and he would only come back when we fell asleep. We did right away. Little did we know that our father had climbed to the roof to trick us into going to sleep.

Kerri

My parents house had no open fireplace in the living room, just a gas fire. I used to leave my Santa letter beneath the gas pipe and believed that he could squeeze out from behind the gas fire WITH a sack of presents...

Martin

My father told my sister and I one year on Christmas eve that Santa and the reindeer were getting really tired of all of the milk and Christmas cookies that all the nice girls and boys left him and that what Santa would REALLY like was just a beer and a salami sandwich.

Did we leave it for him? You bet!

Look for my dad's story about the children in China above!

shallahb

i used to believe that santa and my parents were good friends who talked all the time. this is cause when i was bad one day, my father called up my uncle and told him to tell me on the phone that he was santa, and that i wouldn't get any presents if i didn't stop being bad. so "santa" told me i was bad and had to behave myself, and then i cried not knowing it was my uncle until years later

nikki

When I was 3/4 I thought that Father Christmas came in and gave you prestenst and tucked you in to bed on Christmas. I was afraid of the fat guy with a red nose coming into my room! I always slept in my parents room on Christmas.

Tee hee

I used to worry about how Santa could get into our house safely. We had an oil burning stove and the Chimney was very small. Even if he had enough Magic to get down the Chimney..... it would burn him up when he got there. I was so upset about Santa burning up, that my Mama finally told me that, she left the door unlocked just special on Christmas Eve so that Santa could come in. That helped me to come up with special stories for my children when we had no chimney or fireplace for him to come down. I was thrilled, as an adult, when the movie "The Santa Clause" came out! That just answered all of my questions!

Lucynda

When I was young, I use to believe in Father Chrismas. I always thought he was true. I left cookies and milk every Christmas eve and the next morning, the cookies and milk will always be gone.and the tree will be FULL of presents.

But one year it changed, My dad took his boots and put them in the ashes to make tracks so it looked like Santa came. My mom got so mad. She yelled at him and i over herd and they explained to me that sants not real...... How stupid of me to believe that!.!.!.!.!.!.

F4SOCCER

I'll admit to this but i actually believed in Santa Claus until I was 11 i think. Every christmas i would get excited becuase I thought santa would be given me christmas presents as my parents would always say. I would write to him saying what i wanted and my parents would write back saying if he could get them or not. My name would also be put down at the end and i was happy that he knew my name. We always put mince pies for him to eat and milk for his raindeers to drink. Sometimes a note would be there for us apparently from Santa thanking him for the mince pies and milk. I was happy back then as i thought it was Santa thanking us. Then one christmas, my mother spoiled the fun when she told me Santa wasnt real. How she upset me that day!

Anon