A 2022 Christmas Extravaganza
Over the Christmas holidays, we had lots of fun activities. Here are some of the highlights of what we did, with lots of photos!
Starry Nights
Starry Nights is a drive-through light show in Memphis that has been going on for several years. In fact, the last time we went was several years ago, although none of us could remember exactly when that was. We picked up Brant and Karen (and Zoey the dog) so that we could all go together in one car and talk. And save money, too.
Although you mainly drive through Starry Nights, they do have one place where you can park your car and walk around. We made use of that, although Zoey was suspicious of just about everyone.
These photos were mainly just quick and fun. And slightly blurry because of that. But we were having a good time. The photos were just secondary.
You almost can’t tell, but that was a giant Santa Claus behind us.
There was also a giant Santa hat that was fun for photos.
Remember that time that I did not get my self in my own selfie? I guess I better work on my technique!
Christmas Portraits
We had our annual Christmas Eve gathering with my parents. But due to some life circumstances, we got interrupted for a while, which threw off our game, meaning that I forgot to get out my camera and take a family photo. Oops.
But we did take lots of family photos at our annual gathering with the Riedels the day after Christmas. Or Boxing Day, if you prefer. But we were just celebrating Christmas.
Here are the three Burnses. Trivia: We are each wearing shirts that we got for Christmas.
The annual Laura and Karen photo. It’s a tradition! Yes, they did take a similar photo at Thanksgiving, too. That is why it is a tradition.
And here we all are, even though we could not get Zoey to look at the camera. It was nice to have everyone together!
Grizzlies Game
The very next night, we went to watch the Memphis Grizzlies play the Phoenix Suns. The Grizzlies lost, but we still had fun!
The Burnses at the pre-game shoot around before we moved up to our high-up seats.
The Riedels and a Burns at the shoot-around.
Laura in her Grizzlies cap. Just about everyone in our group was wearing something Grizzlies-related.
As I mentioned, our game seats were a little higher up in the arena than our pre-game seats. It was a long way down, but we all made it just fine.
Zoo Lights
And to finish up the holidays, us older adults went to Zoo Lights at the Memphis Zoo on New Year’s Night. Once again, we had a good time just hanging out, talking, and seeing the lights. More good times with good people!
I took lots of photos, but I am just sharing a few of the people photos for now. I will save the others for another post. I might even save them until December to get a jump on the next season’s Christmas photo posts.
We did like some of these large ornament-things for photos, as you can tell. Everyone else did, too, so we sometimes had to wait our turn. But we didn’t mind the wait.
This time, I was more successful in getting my self in the selfie. I learned from the last time! And you can see a few snowflakes in the air above us. Fortunately, those were fake snowflakes. It was much warmer than the single digit temperatures that we got to enjoy (or not) in the days right before Christmas. If it had been real snow at Zoo Lights, we would have been staying warm at home instead!
So there you have it, some of our Christmas fun of 2022 (and New Year’s Day of 2023). I always hate it when the holidays end and we go back to our normal lives. But we got to do lots of fun things, and we have lots of memories to look back on.
Here’s hoping you all have a wonderful year ahead in 2023!
And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. - Colossians 3:17
About the Photos
These photos are a mixture of camera photos and phone photos. As I mentioned above, the main reason for most of these photos was to capture memories instead of to create perfect-looking photos. That goal of capturing memories was definitely accomplished!
And about the title of this post: “Extravaganza” sounded much more interesting than “Photos of some stuff we did”. Sorry if you were expecting something more extravagant.
Photos: Each photo is either a single Raw exposure and some were processed in GIMP and Raw Therapee, or a photo from my iPhone. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II and iPhone XR
Lens: Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens and Rokinon 35mm f/1.8
Date: December 20, 2022 through January 1, 2023
Location: All around Memphis and Williston, Tennessee
