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.
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:
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.
The kids also played board games. Here, they look a little "bored" with board games ~ but I think they're actually just intensely competitive:
Usually, we do some singing at the piano or with the guitar. This year, Caleb played guitar while James joined in on banjo.
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:
