cameraless Christmas

No camera = no pictures, sorry folks.  We went to Southern Utah for  Christmas this year and I didn't take my camera.  I thought about it, then I thought of the hundreds of pictures from the last time we went and I figured that I would just get copies from some one else.  After all there were 3-4 cameras last time. Ya, I think that either everyone else was thinking the same thing or in the chaos that is so many people and kids we all just forgot.  Whatever the case I realized the week after Christmas that I had no pictures.  My shame is the reason for such a late post.
Christmas was great though.  In years past I have really struggled finding a balance between giving gifts and focusing on Christ.  It's hard with kids, Christmas is big and kids think for months about what they are going to get, Santa coming, candy canes, presents, cookies, and cocoa.  But I have found that it is not impossible to teach kids a Christ centered message in the midst of so much materialism.  Last year for Easter I put pictures of Christ in the Easter eggs along with small candies and toys.  Glen was so excited to find the pictures of Christ that he didn't pay much attention tot he candy or toys until after he had found and showed me all of the pictures.
So we found a groove for Easter.  Christmas seemed harder, more intimidating.  We found a way to make it work for us though.  We have debated the whole Santa thing at our house.  Santa isn't real, not the way kids see him, but there is something special in believing in Santa.  We found middle ground. We did three things this year. We did not play Santa up.  He doesn't bring all the gifts, but he does bring a some gifts.  This year he brought a lot because someone did a sub for Santa for us.
We made Christ the focus of our home.  He is always the focus of our home, but in December we a make a little more effort and focus on his birth.  We have toy nativity sets for the kids, we read Luke Chapter 2 every night in December, and we watched movies about the birth of Christ.
The other thing that we found worked was to minimize the number of gifts the kids received.  They got 1-2 things from us and one from Santa.  That way we do not get lost in the materialism that Christmas has become.
I feel a need to anchor my children in the gospel, to teach them what is truly important and where true happiness is found.  I fear for them.  In a world that is becoming increasingly evil I worry a lot about them.  Are the messages I teach them going to mean more then the messages of the world. Will they hear my voice or the world's?  My hope is that our family traditions for Easter, Christmas, and our daily lives will help prepare them for the wickedness they will face as they grow.