I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was 7 years old. I’ll never forget it. I was in the first grade, and it was the week before Christmas vacation. My classmates and I were in the computer lab, and we were prompted to type letters to Santa Claus through a certain website, which I have since then forgotten. I really do wish I could include the link so that you could see what I’m talking about, but 14 years is a long time to try to remember the address of a certain website.
Anyway, I remember that my letter wasn’t your typical 7 year-old letter to Santa Claus. It was a mission. While all the other kids were concerned about letting Santa know just exactly what they wanted for Christmas, I was interested in learning about how he could make it around the world in one night. Seriously, here’s a dude that has 13 or so flying reindeer that are supposed to carry tons of junk all the way around the world in one single night, not to mention the time loss from landing and distributing presents in each individual home. After sending our letters, we were given “personalized” responses that were ever so “magical”. I soon realized that all the kids had the same letter, just different variations of it. I thought to myself, “Wait a minute… These weren’t written by Santa Claus! It’s the same letter!”
A rather sophisticated debate ensued in which my all-knowing classmates in all their infinite first-grade wisdom informed me that “Santa Claus can use magic.” That’s why we all have the same letter.” Old Saint Nick, that rat bastard, cheated me out of my childhood that day. After finding this infographic though, I at least have a better understanding of the man behind holiday spirit. [via]