Christmas Wrap Up

The Christmas season began about a week before Christmas. The Merwin side of the family all came to Paris for the celebration the weekend before Christmas. We opened presents at the gym at church. With four (Andrew doesn't count this year.) rowdy boys what could be better?!? As you can see from the above picture Andrew was exhausted before he even opened a single present!!
The Sunday before Christmas Clayton and Jack had their programs that morning and the adult choir had their program that evening. Clayton had a solo (with Shannon) in the cantata. Because we listened to the cantata in the car, Jack knew all the words to every song. I could hear him singing from the choir loft. He didn't make it through the entire program though. He was exhausted from all the singing.




Since Fred and I were dating we have gone to Cracker Barrel on Christmas Eve. We missed a couple of years in there, but not too many. We decided to head to Murray that morning and enjoy our tradition. As you can see Andrew was thrilled. I decided this year that I am going to start keeping the receipts from each year and see how they grow as these boys grow. We spent around $16 this year. Fred and I split the holiday sampler and Clayton and Jack split pancakes and sausage. As those precious boys were sitting beside me and eating I wondered how much longer they were going to share a plate!?!

Christmas morning we were up early. My parents joined us for the celebration. The boys both got scooters. Even though it was freezing out they still wanted to ride them outside. They were too precious. After a yummy breakfast we loaded up the front wheel drive sleigh and headed to Memphis to celebrate with the Shackelfords. Mr. Fred cooked a great steak dinner and we all had a wonderful time. Fred headed home and the boys and I went to Jackson to visit with the Thomason side of the family. We opened presents with them on Sunday.

The Shackelford Family 2009