I tell myself i will never lie to my kids...will I cave?  did you?

I didn't like to my children.

Think about it: only Christians and a few other cultures (e.g. Japan) tell their kids the Santa story.

So: most people go through life without ever telling their children that particular story.

Even here in the West, most of the non-Christians never tell their kids the Santa story.

What's most likely to change your mind on the matter?

If your spouse wants to do so.

Otherwise, you should find it quite simple not to do so.

A Jewish woman I knew said that she just told her kids (when they asked about it), "We don't believe in Santa Claus." They already understood that they believed differently from Christians, and so it was no problem for them to accept this additional difference. There was no problem with "Who's right?"

Yes, because you will want them to believe in the goodness of santa and jesus. Death is a hard one to lie about, because it is so final. But the way you think will change if you have kids because you want to shield them from the world. 

You'll lie to your kids.  They'll lie to you, too.  Just remember to try to be as open and honest with them os you can be, and to be honest about the important stuff, while the little white lies and silly fictions you tell them will not really hurt them.

Gods are not real.  That is a universal fact that my kids became aware of at a very young age.  Thankfully, nether of them have suffered any kind of Brain Trauma, so they are still atheists in their adulthood, and now raising their own intelligent, atheist children.

It turned out to be a lot harder not to lie that it seemed like it might be.

We did master the response that did not address the question. (Do I have a future in politics?) We didn't have too much trouble with Santa et al, but we struggled with invasive questions when they'd seen or overheard something.

Why did the lady in the locker room have a string in her ladyhair? Does that man know farting is rude and smelly? Why are you crying? Why were you and Daddy jumping on the bed last night when I'm not allowed to?

When these questions were asked, I wasn't ready to explain periods and tampons, that Daddy had a sickness that usually kills people, or my sex life, but we did address the farting issue head-on.

(Daddy survived.)

I see what you did there... 😆

You don't need to lie to kids to play games of pretend with them, and you don't need to tell them things that they aren't developmentally ready for. I think you need to learn more about child development before you think about having kids.

Difficult to answer about your mindset that depends on your integrity.  

My wife and I decided the same thing, and we stuck to it..... even though there were several that disagreed with us about the Santa, Easter bunny, Tooth fairy things.

Of coarse you do have to tell them that other kids do believe in those things and how they should handle it...

Why teach kids to lie at an early age...just seems like the wrong precedent to set.