The winter season is a time for people to be around family, be joyous, eat plenty of food and of course, get presents.

One mysterious man named Santa Clause magically flies all the way around the world to bring billions of kids presents in one night. How does he do it? Well, he doesn’t. Santa is not real. Santa is one or both of your parents.

Yet, even though he is not real, billions of kids thrive off of the thought that late at night on Christmas Eve, Santa will come down their chimney and set up an aurora of presents for them to open in the morning. When kids find out that Santa does not come down the chimney, he comes down the stairs, and he does not wear a furry red suit, he wears pajamas, it feels as if their whole world come crashing down.

Students at De Soto have their own stories as to how they found out Santa was not real. Juniors Rachel Giersch and Taylor Cole are examples of how most students found out.

“I was in my mom’s closet, and I saw this big brown dog and I was like, ‘oh my gosh,’ and then it was under the Christmas tree the next morning,” Giersch said.

“I was looking out the window and I saw my mom and my brother bringing in a bike and I was like, ‘oh they are getting me that for Christmas tomorrow’ and the next day they said it was from Santa,” Cole said.

On the other hand, a majority of students could not even remember how they found out so they made up extravagant stories such as the following.

“I heard something on the roof and I climbed up the chimney, so I was covered it soot and ash and everything, Santa saw me and got scared and flew away and didn’t give me anything. So I was sad,” senior Sam Bowman said.

Whether true or made up, everyone has a heartbreaking story as to how they found out about Santa.