thanksgiving and a dickens christmas

thursday morning, we made our way to fayetteville to do thanksgiving with my family. we were able to see a lot of people while we were there and had a great time (though my dear husband felt way outnumbered without my brother there to help balance out the testosterone a little bit more.) what can i say? i come from a family of strong, independent females. and i have no pictures from that day. sorry, turkey took priority over photographs.

we decided to stay through friday and enjoy the annual downtown event--a dickens christmas. i love the downtown area of fayetteville. i can remember when it was not the best place to be--we'd drive to church and my mom would make sure our car doors were locked before we went down hay st. but they've worked hard to rebuild the downtown area and the dickens christmas is one of those big events.
they had a victorian santa posing for pictures in front of the arts center...
and gingerbread competitions going on in one of the downtown cafes.
you could take a horse-drawn carriage around the downtown area
or listen to one of the many street performing groups of carolers or musicians.
we picked up a bag of kettle corn (one of my FAVORITE snacks) and snacked on that as we browsed the stores and art galleries along the way.

but the true magic of the event comes later on, after the sun sets...
everyone gathers in front of the market house with their candles, waiting for the downtown lights to be turned on.
and with a great flourish, charles dickens and bob cratchet (along with tiny tim) turn on the signal to have all the street lights and twinkling tree lights turned on for the holiday season.
we made our way back down to the church (our church where we got married just a short 2 1/2 years ago)...
and enjoyed a "tubachristmas" with 25 low-brass musicians (and that my brother will be sad to know he missed.)
and then it was officially the holiday season.

what starts the holiday season for you and your family?