My pastor would scoff at Santa Claus because he diverts attention from the birth of Christ, which is what it’s really about.
Ah. A Puritan. (Please, a jest and I pray no offense taken. ;^)
There are certainly plenty of accretions to the Christmas celebration and we don't reject (many of) them, but our issue is the beginning of the celebration of Christmas which for us begins on Christmas Eve --not ending on Christmas Day-- and continuing for the 12 Days of Christmas ending the evening before Epiphany. On Epiphany we celebrate the tradition of the arrival of the Magi.
Our Rector asked us this year to start putting off the Christmas "things" until their time. Which some of us have long done -- the tree never goes up until Christmas Eve. This year the music, well, I haven't even put on the Advent records yet, though that would be acceptable.
I think our goals are much the same: Christmas is about celebrating Christ's birth.
For us Advent is preparation for Christmas and elements of Christmas feed back in the preparation. Although our Lectionary (the defined Bible readings for Sunday Communion services) for Advent reads more like a preparation for Good Friday & Easter -- as in "THIS is the reason for the season," established many centuries ago.