Christmas Part 1: The Saccenti Week

when i said i didn't have many pictures from christmas, i guess that was a little inaccurate. I have A MILLION pictures from christmas - they are just all out of focus. but since that is all i've got i am posting them anyway...just try to squint a little. I copied my sister's pictures onto a disc so i would have some better pictures, but as a part of the complete catastrophe that surrounded anything having to do with pictures this year somehow her pictures won't open on my computer. so again, please just squint a little (and becky, if you could send me the disc of the pictures from your camera it would be AWESOME!)

so, we started the journey sunday morning. Cris loaded up the van, and it was truly a work of art. I'm not quite sure how we fit all of our stuff, all of the presents, a giant microwave, several boxes of old baby clothes, and loads of betsy's stuff left over from hawaii, along with the 4 of us + Summit in the van, but Cris is a vehicle packing mastermind, and somehow made it work. We drove straight through, and it ended up being about 19 hours (it took us about 23 hours with the stops). I was truly amazed by how well the girls handled the ride. Of course the DVD player was a lifesaver, but even so, they sat in their carseats for the entire trip without really even the smallest complaint. Nova didn't sleep too well in the car, and got into this terrible thing of wanting to hold hands (which proved to be a very uncomfortable position for the person in the passenger seat, with some interesting controtions involved), but other than that minor little thing they were perfect little angels.

Juneau taking Summit (aka "Summer-nutty according to Nova) for a walk at one of our rest stops

We arrived Monday morning to a frigid Ohio winter, and the first order of business was heading out to pick out and cut down the Christmas tree. Somehow i was sneaky enough to avoid the tree-picking trip (it was really very cold, so i was happy to volunteer to stay in with Nova and Juneau). The "tree cutting team" picked out a beautiful tree.

There are a million treasures to discover at Grammy's house. As you can see, Nova was quite pleased with this rocking horse. And yes, that is blue eye-shadow. Everyone in the family got "Bibbidi Bobbidi'd" by Hope. Nova was of course a willing participant in the makeover.
The next day we had an AWESOME time skiing and snowboarding with the Alford's! Cris decided to try snowboarding for the first time, and was truly a natural at it. We had so much fun that we can't wait to find the closest slopes in Colorado! My mom and Betsy watched after the girls all day, and it was so incredibly fun to be able to spend the day without having to worry at all about them. they had a blast with Grammy and Aunt Bets, and we had a blast spending the whole day doing "grown up" stuff.

One of the special things about hanging out at my parents house is they made fresh bread every day! Here is Grammy teaching Juneau how to shape a roll....she loved it!

Of course everyone loved spending time with Uncle Drew. Drew is such a blast to hang out with, and has fun doing pretty much anything. The girls adore him, and we really loved getting to see him so much during the week. Drew was also able to give cris a few snowboarding tips while we were on the slopes, and fortunatley this time he avoided breaking any limbs!

The next picture is the one where the camera started going all crazy (unfortunately i couldn't see it on the LCD viewer so i didn't know it was going crazy). anyway, Wii NCAA football was a HUGE hit! Everyone got so into the game there was cheering and yelling you could hear all through the house!

Aunt Nutkin braved the crazy virginia snowstorm to drive to Ohio for a short visit! Nutkie always adds an extra level of fun and craziness to the family gatherings. Here she is helping decorate the tree while holding up a 29 year old Squirrel ornament :)Junebug decorating the tree - she LOVED helping out with the decorations!

Daddy and Nova adding their decorations

while I am talking about decorations, i cannot even explain how awesomely decorated my parent's house was! every single inch of the house was filled with christmas lights, wreaths, bows, singing toys, and other stuff that the kids absolutely loved exploring. It was so beautiful, and really added to the Christmas spirit!

Drew holding up his 1st Christmas Ornament

Finally Betsy arrived Monday night! Juneau had been asking constantly for "Aunt Bets? Aunt Bets?", and she was sooooo excited to get to finally see her. I was super excited not only to see Betsy, but also because she was transporting my Christmas present to Cris.....

Meet "Denali" - the newest member of the Stickley family!

Cris had mentioned a couple of times that he wanted to get another Husky at some point, and i thought this was the perfect opportunity! With Cris being home during the day he can give the puppy lots of attention and work on training him. Denali is 11 weeks old, and has the sweetest temperment! He is going to be a perfect addition to the family.

Aunt Betsy is absolutely adored by her neices and nephews. She is soooo fun, and loves to spend time with the kids. Here she is leading one of many rounds of "Ring Around the Rosie"

Aunt Bets and Juneau showing off their Splits

Uncle Tommy and Micah wiped out on the couch It is almost painful for me to post these pictures because of how dissapointed i was about the photographer falling through, and then the discovery that the pictures i took were blurry, but they are all I have so I am posting them anyway. We did have fun taking the pictures and it is great to see everyone together, so i am just trying to make the most of the dissapointment.

The whole crew - my mom and dad, the five kids (Becky, Me, Tommy, Betsy, Drew), spouses (Kyle, Cris, Sonya), and kiddos (Kaleb, Hopie, Secily, Micah, Juneau, and Nova)

Grandpa and Grandma with the grandkids

Mom with the boys

Dad with The Girls

We were so happy to participate in our family tradition the week before Christmas. The church I grew up in holds a beautiful, intimate, family communion service, and it was so great for all of us to get to be there together. Here are the Alfords after the service. Adorable, aren't they?

Cris with his new puppy - and the only other boy in our house! Christmas Eve has a lot of family traditions for us. For as long as i can remember, before the kids go to bed we always gather around and listen to my dad read the Christmas story. Then we get out my mom's precious moments nativity music box and sing "Oh come let us adore him". We have done this since i was a little girl, and it is one of my very favorite parts of Christmas.

A more recent tradition that has evolved is known as "The Stocking Game". Basically everyone takes all the stuff they have bought for the family stockings (The adults only, of course!), and dumps it out in the middle of the table. Then each person gets to take a turn picking out an item from the giant heap of stocking stuffers. Of course the beginning is pretty cut-throat. The Gift Cards and Sephora items are usually the first picked. Towards the end it gets a little more comical as the items that are left are usually little ridiculous. This year we played a little dice game (ok, it was actually gambling...on christmas eve...don't judge us), and Betsy and Tommy were the big winners to split the pot at the end.

The Stocking Loot Finally, Christmas morning arrived! I'm not sure if the girls really grasped the concept of Christmas, but there is certainly no doubt that they know what PRESENTS! are.

The fabulous aunt that she is, Betsy accepted nova's invitation to eat a little bite of her slobbery candy bracelet from her stocking.

Drew and Hopie playing her new video game Aunt Nutkin found these Squirrel Pajamas, and couldn't resist buying a pair for each of the girls! In case you can't tell, Summit is dressed in a squirrel costume from Aunt Becky Of course we had to play lots and lots of Rock Band. Here we are likely singing "Eye of the Tiger", or possibly "Living on a Prayer". Grammy was a huge hit with the kids when she busted out the "shave ice" machine (or as my girls call it "Blue Ice"). Uncle Drew indulging the girls in their favorite activity - You Tube videos! We also took the girls to their very first movie in a theater the next day. "Where the Wild Things Are" is an aboslute favorite book in our house. Juneau can pretty much quote the entire book. Nova chimes in on the really good parts - like "Let the Wild Rumpus Start!". The movie was playing at the dollar theater in town, and we thought we would give it a shot. Juneau was totally engrossed in the entire movie. She didn't take her eyes off the screen. Nova got a little fidgety at the end, but overall i would say it was a success! We LOVED the movie and can't wait to get it on video.

We are beyond blessed to have such an amazing family, and it made christmas perfect to get to spend the week with the people we love (and don't get to see often enough!). My mom made it look easy to house 17 people, and keep us all fed, entertained, happy, and comfortable, and I'm not sure how she managed it all, but it was absolutely amazing!

The next day we headed up to Toledo to hang out with Matus gang! stay tuned for pictures and stories about the Stickley/Matus Christmas celebration.