A New Tradition...

For the first 10 years of our marriage, we lived in Salt Lake City and enjoyed immensely the beautiful light display and nativity presentation each Christmas Eve at Temple Square. I'm not sure what was more beautiful-the light covered trees, or the ground lights glowing from beneath the snow... We have spent our last 3 Christmases in Cactus Country-this will be #4. We love living here but at Christmas time, we can't help but miss our Utah-white Christmases just a little.

Here in Tucson, our church puts on a live outdoor nativity. It is simply, yet beautifully done. The children especially enjoy the live animals. Last year we invited some neighbors to join us then return back to our home for dessert. Aside from losing our caravan on the way, we had a great time. This year, we did a similar thing but set up a firepit and made s'mores in the back yard before heading over. I think that the fact that it was the second year in a row that we did this and that we have such great neighbors made it feel like a very special new tradition that we hope to continue. And btw, it was 64 degrees last night and as I was sitting at the nativity in my flip-flops, I didn't miss the snow one bit...