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Sunday, January 1, 2012

Home for Christmas

We had a wonderful relaxed Christmas at home this year. On Christmas Eve, we went to a service at Redeemer Community Church. Then we came home, had a snack supper, sang around the piano, hung stockings, and then watched "It's a Wonderful Life" together. Here are our annual stocking photos:

From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


Another Christmas Even tradition at our house is sleeping in a tent (just the kids, not the adults). The tent is built utilizing almost every extra quilt and blanket in the house and several chairs, poles, and clothespins. Here is Noah getting ready to go to sleep and have those visions of sugar plums dancing in his head:

From Christmas 2011


The next morning, we looked in stockings, had some sharing time, and opened gifts.

From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


We were so relaxed that we didn't eat our huge Christmas breakfast until after lunch:

From Christmas 2011


We spent the day putting together Lego, playing games, working puzzles, reading, napping in front of the fire, and feasting! I kept my pajamas on almost all day.

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly. ~Andy Rooney

Christmas in Fayetteville

As usual, our Christmas had three parts - taking place in three distinct locations - Fayetteville, Arkansas, Johnson City, Tennessee and Knoxville, Tennessee. Our celebrations started in mid December and finished up on New Year's Eve. I love having three Christmases, and I love even more that they don't take place all on one day. I love spreading out the fun.

Our visit to Fayetteville started off with the wedding of my niece, Lisa on December 17th.

From Lisa Wedding Favorites


It was a beautiful wedding. It was special seeing Lisa get married in the same chapel where I was married, my sisters were married, and so many friends were married through the years. I was glad Mom was feeling good and able to be at the wedding. It was also nice seeing all my handsome sons dressed up in dress shirts and ties. I have some photos to prove it:

From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


Of course, Rebecca was dressed up, too, but that isn't such a rarity.

After the wedding, we were all kinda tired, so we did some simple gift exchanges over the next few days. Mostly, the kids played games. Aunt Ann gave all the boys a gift of a day of paintball - organized by Matthew.

From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


The kids also played board games. Here, they look a little "bored" with board games ~ but I think they're actually just intensely competitive:

From Christmas 2011


Usually, we do some singing at the piano or with the guitar. This year, Caleb played guitar while James joined in on banjo.

From Christmas 2011


Finally, one of the fun things about Christmas in Fayetteville is the lights on the square. They have music, snacks, carriage rides, camel rides, etc. We just walked around for a few minutes and snapped some photos:

From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011


From Christmas 2011