I may be biased, but I'm actually thankful that my parents raised me to believe in Santa. I'm not sure where I picked this up, but for years I believed that Santa was God's righthand man - I even prayed to him when I had night terrors. I had a lot of weird religious rituals due to OCD. When my dad told me the whole thing was a sham, the first thing I asked was "Well what about God?"

I know it's stupid, but that was a big moment for me. I pretty much believed everything adults told me at face value up until that point, and seeing my entire worldview exposed as a lie taught me to question authority at a young age. I honestly might have grown up as a bootlicker without that experience.