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Coke embracing Christmas for their winter advertising, was probably the smartest advertising move ever made.
Even if it has hardly if ever influenced anyone's decision to serve chilled Coke on a snowy cold and dark Christmas eve, in lieu of Hot Chocolate.
People remember the Santa association when the warm weather returns. Not while they freezing their asses off shivering on a cold winter night.
And if your place is warm and toasty inside. Then a chilled ice drink wont work unless gulp it down, as it will be watered down after the ice soon melts.

More flouride contaminated water, aluminum chemtrails, and aliens wafting amnesia fogs over you, and you'll be fine with it. All of that animated cortex demanding truth just isn't good for you.

Santa Claus came out of the 19th Century. it may have been a Bohemian/German thing but it wasn't much in Anglo-Saxon areas until the 19th Century began. But yeah, Coca Cola didn't "Invent" Santa.

On the other hand, living up in the North Pole and a Red Suit riding a Chariot through the sky pulled by Reindeer, missed that part of the Bible. Pretty sure that wasn't part of the Miracles of Jesus' Ministry nor part of Paul's Pastorship. Sounds very Odin-ish, except for giving gifts instead of slaying Giants

The Puritans worked on Christmas, banned Pagan revelry, etc. Christmas wasn't a Federal Holiday until 1870.

There weren't a such thing as a Federal Holiday until around that time.
People commemorated such days on their own dime. Whether they worked or not, was up to them.

Christmas traditions that were around since the medieval times.
1) 12 days of Christmas feasting, actually required 12 days off from the landowners.
2) Fruit Cakes
3) Caroling, people didn't exchange gifts, but carolers were expected some coins, or to be fed.
4) Candy Canes invented 1670
5)Rich people were expected to have a decadent rich spread and invite everyone in their dominion.
6)Going home for the 12 day celebration.

It's easy to see how eventually one would just rather wrap up a bunch of gifts and give them out rather than have to set up and partake in all of the other required festivities and devote 12 days to the local Christmas Glee club. 12 days of Christmas seems to suggest people expected a gift or some token of appreciation on each of those 12 days.

Then look at the Nutcracker Suite, by 1892 it features the hallmarks of everything we would expect to see in our Christmas celebrations, plus many we don't do anymore. But alas the little girl knew where the Nutcracker came from and Santa is nowhere to be seen in that story.
But it was still chocked full of Childhood fantasies played out by adults in their lives. Meaning it was always a magical time of the year for the adults to play along to spread cheer and delight children. As all of the treats and traditions you see that predates the American Santa Clause was meant to inspire the same wonderment. Sugar Plum Fairies, Mouse Kings, Nut Cracker Soldiers, Dancing Ballerina dolls, What's the difference between that and a jolly man in a red suit in the north pole with elves?

If those traditions were still around, then people would be gripping about the over commercialization of having to buy people presents and nutcrackers for 12 days every year.

I'm all in favor of Christmas Traditions, and people opposed to them are Killjoy assholes.

Santa is clearly a Pagan-ish survival yet the idea of leaving gifts calls back to the abundant blessing of grace and Matthew 19:14

However, they're also gateway drugs into Western and Christian tradition, spreading good vibes that get people to investigate the reason for the season more deeply and hopefully hook 'em in for Christ, or at least appreciate Western Tradition.

Sadly, the war on Christmas is just anti-Western bullshit. Unfortunately, thanks to post-2010 Obama Poison, we can't recognize that the tradition and debate balancing the Holiday between fun tradition, aggressive Corporate Marketing, and reverance of the Saviour being born, like we periodically did before.

Also, the NYT is all about Elaine PAGEL and her Gnostic Gnonsense in their NY Eve Column. You won't see the NYT talking about Mohammed's Schizophrenic Pedophilia during Eid.