The problem is that I'm already complicit in the deception. Besides putting quarters under her pillow, last night (Dec 24) I helped her mother put presents from Santa under the tree. Even before then, I was with her mother while she bought presents that were going to be (and eventually were) from Santa, and I knew all about it.
If somebody were fooling her about Jesus in this way, I would be a lot more worried. (I'm not sure how I'd intervene, which would depend a lot on circumstances, but I'd certainly want to.) But she'll find out about Santa soon enough; I justify it to myself as less important. Lying to a kid about Santa, like making honest mistakes when talking about Jesus, is raising a child differently from how I would (whereas as lying to a kid about Jesus, with the intent that they believe the lie forever, is a step beyond).
However, I do have an answer for questions from random children about the existence of Santa (which I haven't really tried out yet). And that is to quiz them about where they think that their presents come from, giving them a chance to figure out this answer for themselves. That's probably what I'll do here; the complication is that I know exactly where her presents come from (and by direction observation rather than by deduction from reasonable assumptions, as I would for a random child).
In any case, I don't think that she's likely to ask me for another year now.
Well, she asked me a couple of weeks ago, for no reason that I know. I did as planned: asked who got the presents. She replied that Santa uses different wrapping paper than her mother does and seemed satisfied with that. (However, I never suggested the hypothesis that it was her mother who got the presents. Of course it's the obvious guess, but this means that she was actually thinking about it.)
I've long entertained a dubious regard for the practice of lying to children about the existence of Santa Claus. Parents might claim that it serves to make children's lives more magical and exciting, but as a general rule, children are adequately equipped to create fantasies of their own without their parents' intervention. The two reasons I suspect rest at the bottom line are adherence to tradition, and finding it cute to see one's children believing ridiculous things.
Personally, I considered this to be a rather indecent way to treat one's own children, and have sometimes wondered whether a large proportion of conspiracy theorists owe their origins to the realization that practically all the adults in the country really are conspiring to deceive children for no tangible benefit. However, since I began frequenting this site, I've been exposed to the alternate viewpoint that this realization may be good for developing rationalists, because it provides children with the experience of discovering that they hold beliefs which are wrong and absurd, and that they must reject them.
So, how did the Santa deception affect you personally? How do you think your life might have been different without it? If your parents didn't do it to you, what are your impressions on the experience of not being lied to when most other children are?
Also, I promise to upvote anyone who links to an easy to register for community of conspiracy theorists where they would not be averse to being asked the same question.