Easter Sunday

There are two holidays which I have problems with, to a certain extent. Easter and Christmas. As both of these are supposed to be religious days how did the Easter bunny and Santa Claus get involved. Neither of them had jack diddly to do with the actual reason for the day. Don't get me wrong, I don't oppose either. I just don't understand it. True, I haven't done much homework in regards to either one, but just logically I am confused. How do we keep getting things like the Easter bunny and Santa Claus attached to what is supposed to be a religious day and eventually they come to mean more than the actual reason for the day? This has always been a question in my mind.