It's very difficult to make a judgement about what Sam did or didn't know in the Something Wicked flashbacks because those scenes are soo subjective - and in Dean's POV. But here's the thing: to a kid that age, the monsters are real: a child doesn't have to be told, it's just the reality they live in. The "monsters" a little kid deals with might not be the "real" ones of John Winchester's world, but they're just as real.
The eight-year-old Sam in A Very Supernatural Christmas would have been at about the age when he should quit believing in such things, but in the same way as kids quit believing in Santa: it's a sort of brash assertion that it's a lie, while deep down there's doubt (or in the case of Santa, hope). It's the beginnings of adult rationality. But at the time when Sam and Dean have that conversation, Sam has already read John's journal. So nothing Dean said to him would have been a surprise. (Oh, maybe the "Dad's a superhero" part.) That logical progression from Mom - to Dad - to me/us is the first time little Sam has said it out loud, and that makes it real in a whole new way, but it's not new to him.
no subject
It's very difficult to make a judgement about what Sam did or didn't know in the Something Wicked flashbacks because those scenes are soo subjective - and in Dean's POV. But here's the thing: to a kid that age, the monsters are real: a child doesn't have to be told, it's just the reality they live in. The "monsters" a little kid deals with might not be the "real" ones of John Winchester's world, but they're just as real.
The eight-year-old Sam in A Very Supernatural Christmas would have been at about the age when he should quit believing in such things, but in the same way as kids quit believing in Santa: it's a sort of brash assertion that it's a lie, while deep down there's doubt (or in the case of Santa, hope). It's the beginnings of adult rationality. But at the time when Sam and Dean have that conversation, Sam has already read John's journal. So nothing Dean said to him would have been a surprise. (Oh, maybe the "Dad's a superhero" part.) That logical progression from Mom - to Dad - to me/us is the first time little Sam has said it out loud, and that makes it real in a whole new way, but it's not new to him.