Merry Christmas!

We are about to experience our first Christmas in the desert.  At the beginning of December it was a little sad that there wasn't snow outside and that we were still running around in shorts.  I was having a hard timing getting into the Christmas frame of mind.  I finally decided that I needed to put up my Christmas decorations - even though it felt like summer.  As I started to pull things out, I was kind of being selective about what I was going to put up.  Snow men didn't seem right.  Santa in his big winter coat and white beard seemed a little out of place.  The pine bows seemed out of place too - since we don't have pine trees.  I had a poinsettia wreath that I liked - since poinsettia's are really a warm weather plant.  Finally I pulled out my nativity to put up on the piano and I realized that Christmas wasn't out of place in Arizona.  Christ not born on a snowy evening in December.  He was born in a desert much like the one we are now living in.  Maybe it is all the other stuff that I considered "Christmassy" that is out of place in the desert - but not Christmas.  It has actually given me - and hopefully my little family, the chance to focus more on Christ this Christmas.  We started the month by going to the live outdoor nativity at the Lutheran Church down the street.

Carousel ride at Bass Pro Shop 

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Watching the fish

By the reindeer!

Happy to see Santa

Not so happy about Santa

We have driven around looking at Christmas lights and have gone to the Mesa Temple to see Christmas lights.  We went to the Bass Pro Shop where we saw Santa, fish and a lot of fun Christmas displays.   This weekend we drove down the Tucson to join Kayte and Brent and their family in the Outdoor Nativity that they get to do every year.  Canon got to be a shepherd.  Savana ended up getting sick so she watched with the rest of us.  Lauren wandered around looking at all the animals.