What should we do with Santa?

I recently had a friend who has been overseas for several years ask me what we do about Santa Claus.  She said where they were it was much easier to focus on Jesus and the commercialism just wasn't there.  I really think parents have to make a decision for their own family.  I know there can be a lot of pressure either way.  Some parents are made to feel like a real kill-joy if they don't promote the man in red and are all about "killing the magic."  At the same time, I've seen parents looking down their nose at those parents who would choose promote lies to their children because they are certainly crumbling any trust their kids could have in them.  Well, similar to my views on Halloween, which you can read here, I definitely tend to be in the middle of the road on this topic.  And, similar to my views on Halloween, there's been an evolution of my thoughts.
Growing up, we had relatives within pretty close driving distance, so we spent part of the holidays driving from Wyoming to Nebraska, and then up to South Dakota.  Plus, my mom's birthday was added in there on Christmas Eve.  It made for some busy days.  We usually would (if I remember right) go out to eat for my mom's birthday on the 23rd, come home and have our immediate family Christmas time, which always included reading the Christmas story from Luke 2, and then - score for me - youngest to oldest got to open presents, one at a time.  The next morning we would trek our way to Nebraska, only about 3 hours away, to Grandma and Grandpa's house, where a loud, fairly large group of my aunts, uncles, and cousins would gather for another round of "Christmas."  My grandma had made each of us stockings that had long since outgrown the mantle and stretched across the wall of the living room.  The funny thing is, Santa would always come to my Grandma June's house, but would seem to come in a more dramatic way for some of my cousins and less for others.  Hmmm...  Christmas morning, after a brief opening of "Santa Claus" presents,  we would head up to my aunt and uncle's in South Dakota, and have our 3rd round of Christmas there with more cousins, aunts and uncles and my grandma.
I honestly don't remember sitting on Santa's knee too many times. I'm sure I did, but I know it wasn't an annual tradition, something we had to do in order to make Christmas "Christmas."  Santa just wasn't a big focus in our family.
When I was in college (wow, this sounds just like my Halloween progression), I definitely went through a phase of not wanting anything to do with Santa.  I could see the point people had of the unbridled consumerism and this big fat man in the red suit upstaging the King of Kings.  Jesus absolutely should be the focus of Christmas.  Of course, I wasn't a parent yet, I didn't decorate my own tree or house, and I was only marginally interested in playing Christmas music.  It may sound silly, but that is probably what brought me to where I am now - music.
I have SO many great memories of fun, classic Christmas music from when I was young.  We had a gigantic record player (which is still in my parents basement and could be confused with a coffin).  Every year, when we were decorating and celebrating Christmas, we would play a fairly set list of songs.  It was a VERY eclectic playlist, and included songs focused on Jesus' birth, but also songs that were about Santa, reindeer, missing front teeth, and a puppy under the Christmas tree.  Bing Crosby, Evie, Perry Como, Dave Boyer, even Ray Stevens would be heard resounding throughout the house.  As an adult, these musical memories came back to me and tempered my views about hating Santa.  Songs like this one made me want Christmas to be about nostalgic fun, too.

OK...here's another classic from my childhood

OK...one more from when I was little that is about Jesus

I could go on and on with Bing, Perry, etc. but I think you get the idea.

Now, as a parent of seven, soon to be eight children, I've kind of come full-circle.  I really can't imagine using Santa to make my children behave a certain way.  In our immediate family, we can't and don't make gifts a huge part of everything.  So, the small amount they get at Christmas from us would not do much to motivate their behavior the other 11 months of the year.  I'm definitely okay with that.  Still, I don't want to throw the fat man out with the reindeer.  Personally, I love the old vintage looking Santa Claus for decorating.  I love stories like those from Little House on the Prairie when Mr. Edwards "ran into" Santa and helped him bring the gifts to Laura and Mary.  And...the music.  Like I said before, I would have a hard time NOT sharing all the wonderful music with my kids.

Still, our society is SO focused on gifts and buying things. It is a struggle to turn my children's attention to the stable in Bethlehem. It has to be a very deliberate decision.  Each family has to find a balance for themselves that they can be comfortable with and not worry about what other people are doing.  Our family doesn't make a huge deal out of it.  The littler kids probably have some belief in Santa, but since he's not a regular topic in our house,  it's not something that comes up.  I wouldn't be devastated if someone made a blanket declaration that Santa isn't real and I think the movies we watch that talk about belief in Santa (Miracle on 34th Street, Elf) actually show that enough people doubt, so maybe they should, too.  Bottomline, I am totally cool with the fact that people celebrate differently than us, and I think each family has to find a balance for themselves that they can be comfortable with and not worry about what other how other families celebrate.  Make traditions that your kids will cherish and "own."