Ugh.
I am going to keep most of my thoughts about this to myself.
I have kids 10 years apart.
There was never any talk in my house about Santa not being real.
If my daughter had ruined it for my son...she would have been shipped to Siberia with a one way ticket.
My kids are now 25 and 16. They aren't stupid. They also happily get things from Santa every year and there has never been a debate except for when they were younger and other kids constantly told them there was no such thing as Santa.
Ironically, "Santa" never visited those kids so mine were and are still happy to play right along.
To this day, I've never told my kids that Santa isn't "real".
They aren't traumatized...they never felt they can't trust me for life because I "lied" to them.
Christmas Eve, my 16 year old will go into his room and he won't come out if he hears rustling around at some strange hour of the night or very early morning. If he busts me, why would I try surprising him anymore?
Like I said, he's got a sister 10 years older and now he has a baby nephew who just had his first Thanksgiving today. Santa will definitely be arriving this Christmas.
That's just my take on things.
I have never told my kids Santa isn't real, nor have they ever uttered those words to me.