Santa Clause

To me Santa Clause is not an important part of Christmas. I feel like he takes away from the real meaning of Christmas, and therefore I would prefer not to teach my children about him. I feel like a child does not need to be lied to but then again what about the Easter bunny, Tooth fairy, Halloween and all those other holidays, should I let my children participate in those? I want my children to grow up knowing and fully understanding God, and I feel like they might get confused and be distracted by also being taught about Santa Clause. I do not want my children associating Santa Clause with Jesus because they are nothing alike. I know that children need to have fantasies and need to be allowed to be kids, but at the same time I do not to be putting lies into their heads, or having them associate the man in the red suite to Jesus. I think that I would tell them about St.Nicholas, but that I would not give them presents from Santa. I also would hate for my children to start thinking that if their parents lie to them about who gives them gifts, what else they might be lying to me about. When I get the opportunity to be a parent I believe that I will probably set up the tradition of having my children write a thank you letter to Jesus and a wish list for the upcoming year, we would also have a birthday celebration for Jesus either the night before Christmas or that day, and they would of course help decorate a Christmas tree, and hang stockings. Even though Christmas trees and stockings do not fall into the true meaning of Christmas I will still partake in that part of Christmas, so that my children can experience the religious side of Christmas as well as most of the cultural side.