Not lying about Santa Claus

I really don’t want to lie to my kids about Santa Claus. My husband supports this and is happy to also tell the truth, but everyone else I mention this to acts like I’m denying my child a massively important part of childhood. We will still celebrate Christmas with decorations and even tell the story of Santa, but my goal would be for our children to think of Santa like they think of Micky Mouse or SpongeBob - they’re fun characters, but not “real” the way family and friends are.

My parents even were defensive about this, basically asking “What? Were you traumatized by this???” And like, no I wasn’t, but I also didn’t love finding out my parents were lying to me for so long. I DID feel dumb, and I still remember the day my mom told me it wasn’t real.

Does anyone else have experience with this or any thoughts?