I'll be out of step with most here but I never believed in lying to my daughter and I did believe in promoting Jesus as the only reason for Christmas. I told her from the start that Santa was a make-believe character like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse. She used to "visit" Santa like other kids and had fun with the stories about Santa. She's 26 now and says she never felt she missed out on anything in childhood or at Christmas because she was told the truth from the start about Santa. Lying to children, IMO, is something parents should never do.
I'm glad I didn't grow up in your household. It sounds crewl what you did.
God bless you. :-)
P.S. Hope your flamesuit is on. Strangely, some people feel a great need to "protect" Santa.