Christmas in Arkansas

Let me just start this post by saying that we had a wonderful Christmas in Arkansas filled with great food, wonderful family time and generous gifts from loved ones. We are so thankful and feel so very blessed. In all the craziness and fun festivities, I pray that my children will always remember the true reason for Christmas and embrace the awesomeness of our God! I feel like each of my previous posts have been about Santa and all the goodies, but we do try to focus on the true meaning of Christmas throughout the season. I have to share a sweet story about Matthew. A few weeks before Christmas we saw some military men taking up gifts for "Toys for Tots". Out of the blue, Matthew said he wanted to take some money from his bank and buy some toys for another little boy that wouldn't have anything this Christmas. He was so proud of his purchases and never seemed sad to be spending his own money. Sweet kiddo...love him to pieces. I was proud of that sacrifice...he sure does love toys and I am sure the thought had to have crossed his mind that he could have spent that on himself...but he never said anything about that.

On with our Christmas...

We started our Christmas celebrations at Nana and Papa Doc's house on Wednesday evening. The kids had some fun play time and then opened their new Christmas pajamas from Nana and Papa Doc. On Thursday morning we took pictures on the staircase (just like we did growing up!) and let the kids open all of their presents. I must say, it was fairly tame this year! They had a great time and spent the rest of the day playing together with their new toys. Nana had a wonderful traditional meal of turkey and dressing...you just can't beat that!

On Christmas Day we went to Hot Springs to celebrate with Richard's family. We spent part of the day at Karen's house and enjoyed yummy food, Wii competitions and more presents! Matthew and Molly had so much fun playing with the puppies and all the "big kids". We even got to witness a surprise engagement...congrats Papaw Curtis and Janna!

Four generations of Williams

That afternoon we went to Mamaw Shelia's house for our Christmas celebration with that side of the family. Shelia cooked deer steaks (yum!) and lots of delicious sides (and did I mention lots of pies?). We were happily "stuffed" Christmas night! We got to spend two nights with Mamaw Shelia and Papaw Guy and had a wonderful time. Matthew loved wearing Papaw Guy out...they were great playmates! In all of their play time, how did Papaw escape the camera?

On Saturday night we met Nana and Papa Doc, Kara and the boys and Mr. Oosterhous at Garvin Gardens. This is a beautiful botanical garden that is all lit up for Christmas. The kids had the best time seeing the lights and drinking hot chocolate. I didn't take my camera, so I will try to get a few pictures from Kara and post them soon! We had a great time and will definitely try to do this again in the future!

Our final Christmas celebration was in Little Rock with my sweet grandparents. We met at my aunt and uncle's house and enjoyed some time visiting with everyone. The cousins all had fun playing and memaw and papa just watched with a smile! All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas break and cherished all the time we got to spend with everyone! Our trip was perfect...except for the wreck we had on the interstate coming home! Thankfully, everyone involved in the wreck was fine (and it wasn't our fault!). What a blessing!