Sure, we all know that there's truth in the magic of Santa, but whenever children get to a certain age, their once-adorable unconditional belief turns into a spirit-crushing curiosity. We asked moms to answer the question, "How did your kids find out the truth about Santa Claus?" and although we hope we didn't spoil anything (we received more than a few "psst – he's real!" responses), we got some seriously eye-opening feedback from the Christmas-tree-lined trenches.
Here are 18 of the best responses we got – some are downright silly, others are truly bittersweet. For those of you with a few questioning kiddos, we hope these real-life accounts will help you keep Santa's secret at least one more year.