Dinos in the Manger Scene

My sons were absolutely crazy about dinosaurs when they were little boys.  All five of them. They had countless books about them and just pored over those books, learning every fact they could about each species.  One of their favorite shows was a cartoon called Dino Riders, which was sort of like Star Wars--except that the characters landed their spaceships on earth, and then went around shooting at each other while riding on the backs of armed dinosaurs (BTW, does anyone out there besides our family remember that short-lived, but totally awesome, cartoon?)  They learned how to draw dinosaurs, and draw them well.  And they had far too many dinosaur toys--especially after the Jurassic Park franchise hit it big, and with it came incredibly realistic models of the dinos from the movies.  (Santa knew what to bring!)

My boys are all men now.  In a month, my baby will turn 20--so all five of my sons will be in their 20's together in 2013 (until October, when--gulp!--my oldest turns 30!).  But the great thing about men is that a little bit of boy remains in them, no matter how old they get.  At least that's my experience with my men.  To prove my point, here's a picture of son #3 at his girlfriend's house this Thanksgiving.  When asked to pose in front of the "I AM THANKFUL FOR" sign, look what he wrote on the little chalkboard.

Yes, that's right: he's thankful for dinos.  Out of all the things he could have picked (good health, family, friends, Notre Dame being #1 and going to the national championship game, etc.)...he picked DINOS!

This should come as no surprise to me, however.  During the 1988 Christmas season, when this same son was just a wee sprat of two and a half, I came upon him rearranging the plastic figurines in our little Nativity set.  Apparently, the cow, sheep, and donkey were just not cutting it.  That manger scene needed a little something extra, and of course it was--

DINOSAURS!

I just thought I'd share this adorable photo with you--in case the Christmas season hasn't already filled your soul with more joy than you can handle.  It makes me smile every time I look at it.

(And P.S.  If you've been a follower of this blog, you will not be surprised that my little guy isn't wearing any pants!  My boys loved dinosaurs, yes indeed; but they did not love pants!)