To Santa or not to Santa

Santa or no Santa is the current debate in our household. I do not wish to perpetuate the fantasy of Santa to our child(ren in the future). I don't see the point. Yes, we all lived through it and amazingly still trusted our parents after the pulled a huge rouse over our heads. I just can't do it. What makes me highly amused this Christmas is looking at the thought of Christmas through non-believers who celebrate it anyhow. Those people with the "holiday" trees and such. If you look at Christmas strictly from that view it is hilarious. They are celebrating a fantasmical man who "breaks" into houses to leave gifts. What is the point???? It's absurdly funny. Celebrating a fat man whose belly is like a bowl full of jelly. Pointless. Yes, you can say that it's the spirit of St. Nick that they are celebrating. Giving to others. That is a good thing, don't get me wrong. But why must we do it under the cloud of some nice guy that lived a long time ago? Why can't do we believers go along with the fat man idea and tell our children that some mystical person cares about them enough to give them presents? Why do we do that? What about the real reason of Christmas? The real person who came down to earth, the real person who gave us the best gift of all. Why don't we give eachother gifts in memory of Jesus coming to earth? Why do we buy into the fantasy fat man?
Maybe it's the magic of being young. But it seems shoddy that we have to lie to our children to give them some magic in their lives. I think the magic in life can come from the amazement of how a tiny acorn becomes a mighty oak tree. That kind of magic will even cause adults to take a second look at the amazment of it.
So my reasoning abolishes the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny from being acceptable facets of the holidays and the like. Not everyone in my household agrees with me mind you. Why did I come to this line of thought? I have two children whom I give cooking lessons to. They were here about two weeks ago and they were going on and on about Santa and how they have seen him here and there and some elf creature that lives in their house who goes to the North Pole every day to report on their behavior, etc. etc. etc. It pained me (really it did) to hear them, ages 10 and 7, go on and on and on about this. I felt awful listening to them and going along with the lie that they believed. I didn't agree with them or encourage them. I didn't say anything except "wow" and the like. I didn't need to because they were so excited.
Maybe I'm being overly analytical about this whole thing. Maybe I should just relax and let my child believe in the fat man. But I don't know why I should. Why should some fat guy he's never met love him more than I and buys him gifts that he'll love get all the thanks? Not that I need praises from my child, but I don't think some nobody should get the credit. I want to focus on the real reason for the season. I want my family's view to be that of Jesus and not a guy in a red suit. Is that so wrong?