Santa Claus is coming to town!

It's official, out with the turkey and in with Mr. Claus. We recently took Landon to meet the big guy himself - twice! We went the first time, and while Landon was agreeable and happy Santa looked more like he was taking a mug shot than anything. Back to see Santa again, and this time he did not dissappoint with his jolly old self and plenty of hohoho'ing to boot! I guess even Santa has bad days sometimes.

Christmas Trees

The Poston family tradition has always been cutting Christmas trees down in the Plumas National Forest. I don't think Mark has ever had a tree from a lot (though they did have a fake tree for a while, so he says). The Riggs twist on this tradition is that we go up the weekend before Thanksgiving to get a tree. In traditional form, we made our way up to Clio to visit with Great Grandpa Jay and get our tree this last weekend. This was Landon's first long car ride, and he did really well! When we got up to the mountains it was pretty chilly and a bit windy....cue fuzzy doggie hat and mittens!

There was just enough snow to stomp in but not enough to make it tough to move around and get in and out.

It was a beautiful day.

I put Landon in the Moby and we stayed close to the car in case it got too chilly for him. I think he's an outdoors guy just like Daddy. He chatted away the entire time we were up there and was a happy little guy despite having been stuck in the car for the last three hours.

Our little family with Landon's first Christmas Tree!

Grandpa Charlie, Daddy, Landon, and our tree!

Sacked out, ready to head home.

We all voted!

The country is starting to wind down a bit after an eventful election season. Truthfully I'm glad it's finally over with and the 8pm phonecalls with recordings on the other end so I can't chew them out for waking Landon up are no longer; the commercials, the signs everywhere, the mine-is-better-than-yours attitudes...all that is starting to come to an end now. It doesn't sound like it from my above statements, but I am, in fact, a proud American right now. We have a new President-elect and history is in the making right this very moment. Come January 20, 2009 America will be lead by the first ever African-American President. Barack Obama will be our new leader!

We celebrated by going to Landon's Granddad's house for an election party with Aunties Kate, Em, and Bre, Granddad and Maureen, and even Uncle John who came down from Sacramento to vote and have dinner with us. We ordered in Japanese and watched the numbers roll in. Dessert was yummy Obama/Biden cookies. Landon started getting fussy around 7:30 since bedtime is usually 8 so we headed home a little early. Of course, as I was putting Mister Fussypants to bed the announcement was made that Obama won. I totally missed McCain's consession speech and Obama's victory speech since Landon took a loooong time to go down because he was so overtired. I don't blame him though, what an exciting night!

I've never missed an election since gaining the right to vote when I turned 18. I can't justify sitting an election out when I at one point in time would not have the right to vote as a woman. Not too many generations before me didn't have that opportunity and had to fight to attain that right. Even though Landon is a boy and perhaps will never be able to relate to all of my feelings on voting one of my hopes for his future is that he understands, appreciates, and utilizes his right to vote. I hope he feels as though his vote really does count and understands just how lucky we as Americans are to live in a democratic society where free speech - for liberals and conservatives alike - is also a right.

My little patriotic man back from the polls

I think he's trying to say "Obama" here

Whew!

What an eventful few weeks it's been! I've been horrible at uploading pictures since Landon's been keeping me on my toes, so it's going to be a doozy.

Landon, Mark, and I recently met Mark's grandfather for the very first time. He flew down from his home in Anacortes, Washington to spend a week with family down here. Long story short, Mark's mom hadn't been in contact with him since she was in high school, so this was quite a treat for everyone.

We finally made Landon's very first trip up to Apple Hill. We tried going a few times and every time we cancelled because rain was in the forecast but never actually showed up. Of course, until we decided to forget about the forecast and go anyway. It poured all day, but it was still fun.

See??? My serious guy really does smile.