I don't think my parents ever lied to me, or if they did I never knew it. They told me from a very early age that Santa is "just someone who loves you." I remember when I was around 7, playing with an older girl who asked me if I believed in Santa. I didn't want to disillusion her if she still believed, so rather than answer I asked her if she believed. We went back and forth like that for a while, neither wanting to tell the other there was no Santa. Then we just started talking about something else.