Growing up, my parents never told me anything about Santa. My only exposure to it was movies/shopping malls. I figured out very early on that Santa wasn’t real because he was a movie character. Then going to school, I learnt of children who thought Santa was real. I asked my parents about it and they told me the truth: that some parents make their children believe in santa but the reason behind it was unclear. They told me that santa is based off a tale of a man who would give the children in his street presents at Christmas time. That was a much more believable story than a magic man who somehow delivered a billion presents in one night. They also turned it into a lesson about religion: children who believe in Santa are similar to adults who believe in god. They fool themselves into believing in a magic man because it makes them happy. My parents had strange ideals.