I agree that there are lots of families that do not "Do the Santa thing".
We always used the line "As long as you believe, Santa WILL come to leave you a gift or gifts.
To the parent asking about price of gift, even though a child may ask for something expensive.. we started off by explaining that Santa tries to give all children that believe a gift, so he cannot always afford expensive gifts or everything we want.. That is why, Santa does not give grown ups Cars or houses.. Because he then could not afford to give all of the other gifts.. Our daughter always understood this from the beginning..Saved a lot of explaining.
I also do not consider it a lie. It is make believe and magic.. Just like dress up.. As long as you believe you are a Prima ballerina while dancing on your toes.. You are a Ballerina.. If you put on your monster mask at Halloween, for as long as you have that mask on I believe you are a monster.. It is fostering the imagination and the magic of the moment and the season.