How did I screw this one up?!

On Sunday, I did the children's message during the worship service and I was telling them how excited I was to wake up Sunday morning - not just because I knew it was going to be a beautiful sunny day but that.... - and one kid pipped in and said "because the Easter Bunny came!" I IMMEDIATELY responded "Nope, the Easter Bunny didn't come to my house" - you should have seen the looks on those kids' faces. I believe that I have at least begun the ruining of their little imaginations. Some of them went home and asked "Why didn't the Easter Bunny visit Mrs. Amanda?" Poor parents had to make up excuses of who knows what to explain why I said what I said. Oops. Way-to-go- Mrs. Amanda!!

You see, for us Ghents, we didn't celebrate an Easter Bunny this year (or really since we've been "the Ghents" in over 5 years...)

Ever since we got pregnant, Jeremy and I have been discussing what we'll do with these holidays - Easter, Christmas, Halloween...
I'm somewhat convicted about how to actually celebrate them the way the world does. Growing up, Santa Claus was ridiculously loaded with cash and toys and always provided enough surprises to blow my mind on Christmas morning. Then, the Easter Bunny would come and load us up with chocolates and peeps. But honestly, that's all I remember about those holidays as a child.
   Not that my parents did a horrible thing in raising us - believe me, I LOVED all of the surprises and the candy - but I wonder how I missed out on the biggest reason for those celebrations - the birth and death of our WONDERFUL SAVIOR, Jesus Christ. Of course I remember the Sunday school lessons and such, but I don't remember celebrating the coming of Jesus before we celebrated the coming of Santa.  AT the same time, I don't think it's wrong to have the EB and SC visit your house each year (so if you're big supporters of the hairy rabbit and big fat man in red, I hold nothing against you) :)
   So, we've wondered and discussed and wondered and discussed what we're going to do about these with Miriam and our other children. If this year is any example, Santa didn't visit our house, nor did the Easter Bunny. Financially, this was awesome! And, even without all of the goodies and surprises, our family was able to celebrate and rejoice. However, Nana & TriPaw, and Papa were very sweet and gifted some much needed PJs and Puffs for sweet Miriam, but that's about it (I think they look for any reason to give Miriam a gift!).
On the flip side, I don't want to discourage the beautiful imagination of a child.  I want our children to be filled with just as much excitement and surprises as I had when I was little, but I also want it to be reasonable. I still feel torn - do we celebrate with SC and EB or do we just share the gospel story?  Maybe it's the fact that as I teach in Children's Ministry, I'm the one person that HAS to be more gospel-focused than imagination-focused. In my teaching, I have to steer clear of any mention of the EB or SC....in fact, they try to keep out of my vocabulary when I'm around the kids. Maybe this is all ingrained in me, and now it's flowing into my personal life.

What do you do for Easter and Christmas? Are you supporters of SC and EB?