On Santa Claus

I know lots of you think that I am a party-pooper. I probably am. I have, however, put lots of thought into this: I just can't get into the whole Santa thing. I don't remember ever believing in Santa- well not in the way that many kids in our society do, or are made to. The way I see it is that Christmas is great for kids. They love it 'cause they get stuff; stuff they have to unpack, which creates this whole element of surprise thing. They don't really initially care from whom the gift comes; they must be inspired by parents to care from whom it comes. How does the whole Santa myth enhance anything since they can be reminded to be grateful to someone who exists or someone who doesn't anyway? (I don't consider it any of my business what others teach their kids in terms of religion or myth. That's the beauty of a free society.) Daddy works hard. Mommy works hard. My children have presents on Christmas because Tiffanie and I work hard, and because thoughtful others who love them express that love through gift giving.
Okay I am just going to say it:
My kids are going to have a good Christmas because lots of people love them and because I have volunteered to serve our country in time of war. I am unwilling to share the credit of my gift giving with some stranger guy who doesn't exist and who is badly dressed. (I mean if there were a badly dressed man and my family and I loved him and knew him and he expressed acts of gift-giving toward my kids, I would share credit with him)... But Santa? seriously? ...he's not real.
Here's the deal:
As stated above, I can't see how the Santa myth adds to the fun of receiving gifts. (I don't find anything about the myth to be cute or funny at all). So who is it fun for? The adults, right? Adults somehow seem to have lots of fun promoting the Santa myth to kids... I can't quite figure that out either. I can't stomach the thought of having fun as a result of tricking my kids to believe in a myth. The whole endeavor seems to me to be taking advantage of youthful naivete. When I teach my kids about God (who is difficult to believe in because He is not normally seen or known via the five senses) there is an inevitable hurdle of belief over which I must first get. It seems to me that having planted into the recesses of their subconscious little selves the possibility that I am not truthful about myths or things that sound very myth-like can't be very productive in my attempt at helping them to accept God as truth. I have heard my whole life that I over-think everything. I probably do. I may be over-thinking this too. At the end of the day, however, I would rather be accused of over-thinking a thing than have been accused of patronizing my children for my own sense of gratification (keeping in mind that the notion of a, in any other context, strange fat man, who has a silly outfit and gives gifts to people he doesn't know and then punishes others he doesn't know, but of whom he has judged to have misbehaved with lumps of things that can be taken as metaphor for ecological unwholeness, is not gratifying to me at all- it is, actually, rather disturbing).
Actually, I think that it is weird that we honor the King of Kings by celebrating his birth on, what was originally, a pagan holiday (and still is). I can, however, kind of stomach that. Mostly I try to celebrate Christmas with my family by emphasizing sharing stress-free time together, and since we can't ignore the gift-giving thing, I teach them about giving and selfless service of others- and gratitude. But the whole Santa thing... I just can't quite seem to work it into it all- I just can't find room for Santa in my Christmas expression or in the legacy I want my children to carry.