I can understand the desire for the devoutly religious to want to spurn the customs of the world. It does say in the bible not to follow the customs of the nations as they are misleading. truth to be told santa and the easter bunny distort the meaning of the holiday for young children but this decision should be left to the parents and the parents alone. 
People do enjoy having fun on a holiday with their children so I think its an odd place to attempt a biblical lesson to say the least. I know for myself I try to treat others as I would like to be treated so substituting kindness  with  a tough love attitude is a tough sell for me as I have found its easy to stray away from true benevolence and into something less than worthy of the word.