Our kids are teens now--and I love our solution. My mother really went for the "Santa is a lie" and wouldn't allow him at all, due to her hurt as a child. That was no fun. I remember pretending Santa came, but keeping it my secret. My husband wanted no Santa. We wanted to (1) center Christmas on Christ and (2) always tell our children the truth. Our solution: all our decorations centered on Jesus, with little nativity sets for the kids to play with and many Christian books, plus our Advent celebration each night. We had no Santa stuff or books. I told the children "Santa Claus says 'Ho, Ho, Ho' and gives candy to children. No mall Santa ever let me down! Now the fun: when the kids were big enough to clearly know truth from pretend, I began Santa gifts. We opened our family gifts Christmas Eve. But on Christmas morning each child found a "Santa" bag with some gift I'd never buy--sugary cereal, some junk candy they'd wanted, etc. I would insist it MUST have come from Santa, because I would never have bought that. They'd try to explain that Santa wasn't real--with me arguing that he must be, because look what he did. Now that they're teens, santa usually leaves a more expensive soda or flavored water than I usually buy. They really groan at my insistence that Santa brought it--but they like the fun. Another tradition we enjoy: we hang a stocking for Jesus, with each of us secretly adding our offerings to be given at church. We also put in a list of gifts to our Compassion children, Angel Tree, shoe box gifts, and special gifts to Christian ministries. On Christmas we note what we have given to Jesus.
