Christmas in Pictures

Our Christmas celebration got off to a rough start, what with 352 miles to drive after Christmas Eve services and a significant (for the south) snowstorm that hit us just as we hit the road.  Even after our sage senior pastor suggested we skip the second service and leave a few hours earlier than planned, we ended up in the middle of the storm.  It was a heckuva drive, with the car loaded down, 2 dogs in the back, Becca on her feeding pump (she threw up, of course), and (eventually) several inches of snow on the interstate.  Though we were really hoping to make it to Ashland, Kentucky (John's home town) before Christmas morning, we ended up giving up on the east side of Lexington and spent the remainder of the night in a not-so-Best Western in Winchester.  We didn't have a crib for Becca, so she and I (tried) to sleep in a double bed together, while John attempted to keep the dogs in the other bed with him.  That didn't work so well...any of it...the dogs, the beds, the sleeping.  I think the low point was when Becca and I were laying in bed together, and she threw up on my face.  Merry Christmas, y'all. 

BUT - by the time we left the next morning (after a grand total of 3 hours of sleep), the mysterious Christmas plowmen had cleared the roads, and we had a fabulous trip from there on out.*  Here are some of the cuter moments of our week in Ashland.

Even though John's, you know, calling from God kept us from Nanny's house on Christmas Eve (and, believe me, a calling from God is about the only thing that gets you an excused absence from Nanny's), we did make it to town early enough on Christmas morning to join John's extended family for the tail end of the traditional Christmas breakfast and stocking-opening.  I intentionally left Becca in her p.j.'s when we left the hotel because every kid should open presents in their "jammies" (as Becca says) on Christmas morning.  

Becca loved playing with Nanny's decorations!

She was WAAAY into her stockings this year - literally and figuratively!

Becca is ALWAYS happy to see her Aunt Jen Jen - and to eat a lollipop!

We finally got to meet our newest cousin, baby Jillian, who was kind enough to
share one of her many Sing-a-ma-jigs with Becca.  Jillian is so adorable and cuddly!

As you can tell from this picture of John and the one of me above it, SuperDad and I were not feeling
so Super after our super-fun Christmas Eve.  Didn't phase Becca, though - especially since she had so
many other folks to pay attention to her!  She's in the background with Nanny and cousin Jayden.

After breakfast, we went back to Nana and G.G.'s house to open presents.  There were, um, a few packages to be unwrapped, especially in Becca's pile.  

Don't mind the reflective dog in the middle of the shot.  With 4 of them in the house,
they were in the middle of everything (but were very well-behaved, surprisingly!).

Becca liked all of her presents (and the process of opening them), but she really, really liked these
adorable slipper socks from Aunt Jen.  She just had to get up and dance around in them - so cute!
(It's not the greatest shot, but YOU try to take a picture of a dancing toddler!)

That evening, the extended family got together again for Christmas dinner at Nana and G.G.'s.  (The Hitchcock family doesn't mess around with holidays!  They like to celebrate as much as possible! :) )  I love this picture of Nana and her sister, Aunt Robyn, and their youngest grandgirls (as Nana likes to call them), Becca and Jillian.  (They may kill me for putting them on the blog, but I think they look sweet!)

The rest of the week was spent in general family togetherness, very laid-back.  It was wonderful!  John and I even got to sneak out and see TWO movies at the Ashland theater - where it's only $3 a pop for first-run movies!  Love that bargain!  Here are some highlights:

On Sunday morning, we got to attend church as a family, like normal people.
It was nice to  be back at South Ashland UMC, John's home church.
 Becca got to wear her Christmas dress again.  Here she is posing after church.

Aunt Robyn runs a salon and is great about making us beautiful when we visit.  This time,
 Becca got her first-ever Aunt Robyn haircut!  She did great - she really liked it!  Robyn
didn't take off much but she did rescue Becca from the emerging mullet.  

Again, Becca had fun playing with the decorations, especially the jingle bells.
You can also see how much better her hair looks now!

There was lots of lazing about, and Becca bounced from lap to lap.  If you were sitting down,
you could bet that you'd have a dog lying near you in about 2 seconds. I think that's Katie,
one of the scotties, behind John, and Sasha T. Dog on his right.

There was also lots of eating out, during which Becca cooperated less and less
as the week progressed.  I mean, who wants to sit still long enough for us slow
grown-ups to order, wait and eat?  Guess I can't blame her.

And this is unbelievable - there is a ROCKET in the Ashland mall!
Who knew that Eastern Kentucky had such a well-developed space program?
Needless tosay, this ride was definitely worth its 75 cents!

 * I should say that we had a great trip from here on out even though all 3 of us ended up sick.  I mention it because it means that every single time we have travelled with Becca, she has gotten sick or sicker than she was.  What's up with that??  John and I had nasty sinus/cold stuff, and Becca's cough and cold got even worse, which made for a good bit of middle-of-the-night vomiting.  But at least it wasn't in my face anymore.  I count that a win.