The Grass is Greener

...in California because let's face it, we live in Utah where it's snowy. Craig, Lucas, and I were lucky enough to visit both our parents this holiday season. First we went down to my parents in Lancaster and spent until the Monday before Christmas with them and then we went up to Craig's parents in Manteca and spent Christmas with them. Both occasions were monstrous fun. We got back Saturday night and are happy to be home. While at Craig's parents', though, we documented only two occasions...silly us. First, a visit with our dear friends Enos and Lindsay...we miss them lots. And the second, Lucas' first experience with grass. Enjoy!

I didn't know it was a serious picture...a little embarrassing...

I love awkward pictures...but I love little Lucas more

More awkward pictures...only Craig and Lindsay are able to be viewed in this picture...and only part of Enos and myself...love it.

Mom...is this grass?

It was so cute...when we put him in the grass he wasn't sure if he was supposed to touch it or not so when he was crawling in it...he made a conscious effort to lift his hands really high.

I'm so excited, Mom!

Shhh...be vewy vewy quiet...I'm hunting kitties...

A War? On Christmas??

HERE is an article I read on Yahoo News and, though I celebrate Christmas, I whole heartedly agree with this "group" of people. I do think that Christmas should be celebrated but it's not something I'm going to force someone to believe in. My favorite quote from the article is:

"Christians get all bent out of shape over the fact that someone didn't say 'Merry Christmas' when I walked into the store. But why are we expecting the store to tell our story? That's just ridiculous." - Pastor Ricky McKinley.

Bless that Pastor's heart for realizing Christians or believers in Christ (LDS included) are the only ones that have something special to celebrate this season.

An even better point made is that besides the fact that Christians expect a "Merry Christmas" rather than a "Happy Holidays", is they also expect this to be done while they're going into massive debt to buy their family presents, or making sure they buy the nicest present to win some kind of fictional contest. In light of this, Craig and I have decided to make it a family tradition in our house to put some of the money we're setting aside for presents toward a charity of our family's choice. This, of course, won't happen until next year, but I think it will help remind our children that the greatest gift you can give the Lord is to help his children out.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas AND Happy Holidays.