The Enid Blyton Society

Darrell71 wrote:However I knew from a very young age that Santa isn't real, and I got into a huge fight with my friends when I told them this.

Something like that happened to my father when he was small, but his answer was so funny. Like his friend told him the wise men did not exist, our parents were the ones who gave us presents (in Spain the three wise men bring presents, not Santa), and because he was watching the parade he answered, no our parents can't be the wise men because I'm with them right now, and I'm actually seeing the wise men in the parade...

I got a shock when I discovered that Santa did not exist

Machupicchu14 wrote: Something like that happened to my father when he was small, but his answer was so funny. Like his friend told him the wise men did not exist, our parents were the ones who gave us presents (in Spain the three wise men bring presents, not Santa), and because he was watching the parade he answered, no our parents can't be the wise men because I'm with them right now, and I'm actually seeing the wise men in the parade...

Ah, that's so funny! Good to see you again, María Esther. Hope all's well.

Let's hope not too many young children read these forums.

Thankfully, the less cynical amongst us can track Santa every Christmas Eve.

Next, some of you will be saying God doesn't exist...

Weirdly, I actually think Father Christmas becomes more fun when we discover h's not real! Much more exciting to pretend he's going to visit than to really think its true! As a child I was scared of him breaking into the house, lol!!

Briefly when I'd have been six around 1979, I remember I kept getting mixed up with the Bee Gees and Boney M - even though with hindsight they're not really anything alike at all! It's probably because one had men singing in high voices while the other had women singing in low voices. So it all seemed to be like some large, interchangeable, weird Disco supergroup with lots of grating vocals!

Rob Houghton wrote:Weirdly, I actually think Father Christmas becomes more fun when we discover h's not real! Much more exciting to pretend he's going to visit than to really think its true! As a child I was scared of him breaking into the house, lol!!

As I think I said, I twigged at a young enough age that I'm not even sure how old I was — but even if I hadn't, the dead giveaway in our family at least was that "Santa's" handwriting on the gift tags was suspiciously identical to Mum's.

That said, even knowing it was all just pretend didn't spoil Christmas for me a bit — I still loved stories of Santa and his elves and reindeer and so on without having to seriously believe they were real, just as I loved Enid Blyton stories even though I knew the Faraway Tree wasn't real either. (Oops, hang on... I didn't leave anyone shattered just then, did I?? )

Courtenay wrote: As I think I said, I twigged at a young enough age that I'm not even sure how old I was

I don't think I've ever been as amused by a verb as I am by your use of twigging. I simply don't have enough British/Australian friends I suppose.

Hope you've 'twigged' what it means now!

For the first nine years of my life, I lived in Stourport-on-Severn in Worcestershire and I really thought that Stourport was the centre of the universe and the most famous place in the world - at least I did until I was about seven years old.

Its a lovely place, so I don't blame you!

I agree, Rob. I love Stourport and visit the town as often as I can.

Spent many a happy day in stourpourt:-) im in Worcester so it's just up the road

Rob Houghton wrote:Hope you've 'twigged' what it means now!

I certainly have

Eddie Muir wrote:For the first nine years of my life, I lived in Stourport-on-Severn in Worcestershire and I really thought that Stourport was the centre of the universe and the most famous place in the world - at least I did until I was about seven years old.

This reminds me of an incident when I was probably about that age. I grew up on the outskirts of a fair sized village called Burnham (of Burnham Beeches fame). But when I saw 'Racing From Birmingham' advertised, I assumed there had to be a racecourse nearby and thought it was great that my village was on television. I think I was more surprised to eventually learn that Burnham and Birmingham are completely different places!

well, I never heard of a racecourse in Birmingham! there's one in Warwick and Worcester. Unless it was dog racing...?