Keeping Christ in Christmas

Growing up, my parents always did an excellent job of keeping Christ in Christmas. We had nativities all over the house, a Precious Moments picture of Mary and Joseph that traveled around the room a little bit each day until they arrived at the manger on Christmas morning, we acted out the nativity while my Dad read from Luke, and we always prayed before opening presents on Christmas morning. 

David and I have tried to do the same with our kids. They have a Little People nativity that they can play with so they become familiar with the characters. (Somehow, Tiana made it into the stable - wise woman, perhaps?) For the 13 days before Christmas, we read something from the scriptures to track the story of Christmas. We have home evening lessons and daily talks about why we really celebrate Christmas. Regardless of our efforts, Baylie always starts by saying we celebrate Christmas for presents. The other day she clarified that it's to remember when Joseph and Mary gave presents to the baby Jesus. Getting closer...

So today after reading, Baylie wanted to take the lead. She asked us, "So what is the real reason we celebrate Disneyland?" Guess we still have work to do.