I've never heard that Santa is associated with the new year.

Santa Claus and Father Frost are not the same. In communist regimes lather one was popularized by communist parties to eliminate Christian tradition of Christmas. Originally Father Frost comes from pagan god of Winter who was kidnapping kids and asking parents for presents in exchange. Later it was "converted" and started giving presents like Saint Nicholas :-)

Interesting information but would the symbology be the same?  How is Father Frost traditionally depicted?

So however you turn it, Santa Claus or Christmas in general can not be connected to New Year's.

Just my personal opinion, of course.

No offence intended I can understand  if you look from a Christian point of view Santa is no way related to new year but   as a matter of fact ,like I said before, it is (may be even  falsely) but still perceived as symbol of new year in some countries like in Turkey and suppose in many others as well. advertisers use  Santa as the symbol  for advertising new year's events . in such places not many people even know what and when Xmas is. Actual background could be different and  I appreciate that but I was talking about actual  facts and how it is perceived in some countries who doesn't traditionally celebrate Christmas.so I don't think ,including this keyword should be considered as keyword spamming .  not surprising  if you search for Santa+ new year SS returns with 16,698 results    DT  12574  StockXpert 9663    FT  8600 results  I think this numbers prove people are clearly relating it to new year.