I have never separated Santa Claus from the spirit. I don’t see the need to do that. Christ owns Christmas, all of it.
Santa is a nice parable. The classic story isn’t quite up to gospel, because Jesus came to help us, not beat us down, when we were, well, naughty. Some other countries’ Santa-like traditions have an evil figure doling out the punishment, which is closer to the gospel spirit. America, living on the idea of its own merit, came up with the naughty/nice Santa Claus.