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Well we're Jewish so we don't talk about Santa decorations/xmas tree sidewalk selling stands have started going up in our neighborhood though and so she has started seeing santas but calls them "snowmen" or "silly guys" and we haven't corrected her

@Mrsbells: how old is your LO? If you don't do Santa, what do you tell her?

I ask because we have/had no intentions of telling any elaborate fantasy/lies about Santa. I didn't grow up with Santa for religious reasons like you describe. DH didn't grow up with Santa because he's Hindu, haha. But now she's coming home from school with all this Santa talk. I'm not sure how to navigate it while staying true to our beliefs but while also having to worry about what she might tell other kids. Seeing as she's only 3.5

Sometimes I wonder how other parents would feel if I asked them to learn about the Hindu god Ganesha and make sure their kids understand not to tell MY kid that it might not be true, you know?

@Mrsbells: I just hope my girls don't ruin it for the kids that believe, haha!

I am following DD's lead. We aren't telling her about Santa but I am sure she'll pick it up at daycare. I really hope she doesn't though

We don't do Santa. But my LO talks about him and while we have never told her that he is bringing gifts, she sometimes says that he is but I just say "oh, you think so?". I basically just let her say and think what she wants and don't correct nor encourage her. I thought this article about it was spot on http://www.thehappiesthome.com/4-ways-we-keep-the-santa-magic-alive-without-totally-lying-to-our-kids/

ETA: my kid doesn't even go to day care or preschool and she still has all these ideas about Santa. It just happens. I didn't grow up doing Santa so I have no intention on doing it with my kids but I'm not ready yet to flat out say he isn't real.

I have no idea what we are going to do truthfully. I remember believing in Santa when we were younger, but I'm not sure if we will do Santa with our DD or not. I just haven't decided yet...

Everything my kids know about Santa they learned from friends.

I didn't grow up with Santa because in my country it's St Nikolas (6th).
But where I live now Santa is really done...so for the moment lo is only 2 so doesn't realise all the xmas fuss or ask any questions.
But it will be tricky in the future, his father doesn't want to do Santa so I'm fine with that but the whole in-law family does..so we'll have to be careful for when he's around his cousins.
I'm not sure yet if I want to do St Nikolas...I'll have to decide soon!

DD is 2.5 and knows about Santa but hasn't asked any real questions yet. We will just follow her lead, but don't plan on introducing it or trying to get her to believe or not. She asked us who got her a present we got her for Xmas last year the other day and we just said mommy and daddy. We haven't even attempted a photo with Santa since so far everytimr she sees him She freaks out. No need to try and scare her that he's going to break into our house and bring presents. Mama doesn't get enough sleep as it is!

We won't introduce it to her or get her presents from Santa. I'll just follow her lead.

I never thought Santa was real because it's not a thing in Germany.

We don't do Santa as a real person alive and well today but we allowed her to play Santa leaving out cookies and all. She somehow forgot (too much Portable North Pole last year) and she burst into tears the other day after she was misbehaving and I blurted out, I am going to tell Santa!
So yah, Santa isn't real but she believes it anyway!

We don't do Santa and we aren't religious. My older LO is almost 6. I've always told him that Santa is like a cartoon character and people really like him and want to dress up like him and he's a festive part of the holiday season. I've explicitly told my older LO that he cannot tell other kids that Santa isn't real and "ruin" it for them. @808love: We also let our kids "play" Santa and watch Christmas cartoons. We are even doing an advent calendar that has a Santa, but it's more of a fun countdown than anything else. Santa doesn't bring our kids gifts but they get gifts from us and our families.

@mamainthesun: where we live, they do St. Nicholas (Nikolaus) at daycare and they even have a guy dressed up as Nikolaus that brings them gifts. I've told them that Nikolaus only goes to daycare.

I didn't make the decision, so to speak, I let my son take the lead on it. He learned about Santa when he began daycare and we just kind of went with it.

This is a SUPER tricky issue for us. I am Jewish and DS goes to a Jewish preschool so he doesn't hear about it there. DH is not religious, but he and his family are really, really into Christmas so we have a tree in our house annnndddd... FIL is a professional santa! DS thinks all pictures/statues of Santa are of his grandpa. Neither of us have any idea about what to tell DS... Any suggestions welcome!

We haven't really emphasized Santa at least not yet. Santa was not big in my family growing up (non-Americans), so we'll see how it plays out.

@T.H.O.U.: I think my main objective is for him not to think of his grandpa as the same as santa. I think I'd prefer for him to think of santa as a character, though I do love the tradition of leaving cookies and milk.

@runnerd: This was kind of the approach I was thinking we'd take. Like, I never sat LO down and said, "Sofia the First is not real. It's pretend." She kind of knows and if she doesn't really know, that's because she's 3, not because we "lied to her." Santa and all the other stuff is just another character that happens to be extra fun

Buuuut... I have gotten super into it with Elf On The Shelf and so forth so I think I am now in the camp of actually convincing LO that Santa is real, ha.