Homemade sugar cookies topped with whipped frosting and drowned in sprinkles are set out on the table. A warm glass of milk sits beside the cookies. Reindeer clack on the roof. 

Our childhoods were built upon these fallacies. For some, the truth about Santa Claus was more devastating than others.  

The truth is bound to come out at some point, whether that be early or late. For a few students in Ms. Heather Trees’ sixth grade English class, the truth came out undisguised.

Trees recalls, “In this class, I was teaching students how to write a personal narrative, and I provided them with a few examples. One of the examples I gave out was over the topic of Santa not being real.” 

It is only imaginable the devastating feeling that must have filled the students who had yet to find out the truth about Santa. 

“I had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t real ever since second grade, but it was only confirmed for me in the sixth grade by Ms. Trees,” said Joe Mai, ‘23. “For the rest of the class, I was wide-eyed and in shock.” 

Trees mentioned how she did not think about the fact that some students may not have known about Santa yet. 

“I think believing in Santa is a really special part of childhood, and I hated being the person that ended that for those students,” said Trees. 

While some students, like those in  Trees’ class, may have found out too old, others uncovered this truth arguably a lot earlier than they should have. 

Lily Graham, ‘25, said, “When I was six years old, my brother and I were in a bounce house when he decided to flat out tell me that Santa was not real. Ever since then, Christmas hasn’t felt the same, the joy is not there as much.”

However and whenever the truth is revealed, it is undoubtedly a difficult conversation to have. So, when really is the best age to tell kids the truth about Santa?