What Do We Tell Them?
or "He Thought Up a Lie and He Thought It Up Quick

I'm a little torn on the whole Santa(1) thing. Some years from now, I'm going to have to come to a decision - do I lie to my kids for the first 8-10 years of their life or so, or do I ruin the the surprise for him/her and possibly all of my kids' friends? I expect my kids to be pretty rational thinkers, so I don't like the idea of insulting their intelligence with stories of a fat man in red who uses flying reindeer to go around the world and deliver presents. But if I just straight up get the kids gifts for no reason, what does that say about the whole season? I certainly can't abolish the whole idea of presents; I'd have my own children involved in a mutiny at age 8, and as far as I'm concerned, I'd rather that that happens when they're old enough to be legally responsible for the stupid stuff they do.

So what's worse? White lies and insults or pre-adolescent rebellion and outrage?

(1) - I type "Satan" instead of Santa every single time. It amuses me greatly.