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JamesAndrix comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2 - Less Wrong
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This line probably improved the upbringing of any future offspring of mine. I had considered either being totally honest, or telling the typical Santa stories as a low difficulty exercise in spotting falsehoods you're raised with.
Now, I'll still casually detail the Santa myths while being honest about his nonexistence, but I'll also adopt the parental Santa role, down to using magic tricks to make presents appear at midnight, and reindeer tracks in the lawn.
My kids will not be fooled by turning the hot plate around.
Edit: I was thinking about adding a link to the hot plate story for anyone not a regular LW reader, but then I realized this story is already contained in the fiction! (ch. 26)
You do realize that one of the things that this kind of thing teaches is "Dad's willing to slash my tires", I hope. Sufficiently smart kids can pick up on that kind of issue surprisingly young - my own relationship with my mother never really recovered from the instance when, at age 5, I discovered that she was willing to lie to me for her own convenience, and what you're proposing to do appears to be rather similar in scope and potentially more damaging because it's intentional rather than incidental.
Parenting is preparing kids for a dangerous world, and part of that is exposing them to moderate risks with limited real penalties. In the real world, there are people who do magic tricks, themselves believe the magic is real, and want your money.
My aim would be to keep it light and entertaining, so as to create a positive halo of solstice magic, and so that the positive memory doesn't go away with the knowledge that it was sleight of hand. In fact if I do my job as a rationalist parent, the holiday association is: entertainment+presents+learning+food