Christmas!

Let's make it a picture post, shall we?

A sledding outing at our favorite Edgerton Park in New Haven. We've decided we really need a higher quality camera, because Eli looked absolutely adorable the whole outing, but no attempt at capturing it succeeded. She's such a dolly, and very brave. Julia went down the tamest little decline one time after much arm-twisting and bribery; Eli went down a medium-level slope everytime we went down.

The Suttner grandchildren in all their glory. We were excited for Jace and Eli to play together, but for no reason. Eli tried to gouge out Jace's eyes anytime he came within arm's reach. Jace's mother did not allow too much play time after a few episodes of that.

Opening presents. Julia and Eli received sheriff sets to fully outfit them with their hobby horses. This present was far surpassed by the present from Caci and Trevor, though:

An Enchanted Princess Castle dollhouse! Eli didn't quite know what to do with so much glory. Julia certainly did.

Julia played with her present almost two hours straight, but this record was soundly beat by Trevor's fervor for his present from Caci: Rock Band kept the whole family up until 3 am most nights after Christmas. Luckily we were staying somewhere else, though Justin felt short-shrifted at only getting to sing 28 Black Sabbath songs.


One funny Christmas story. (For many, many more, link over to the Chapman's blog in a few weeks when the run-down will probably be up. We are not in the business of gossip, else we'd give our own rendition.) Caci asked my mom for only one thing: brown, knee-high, stiletto boots, similar to ones that looked like this:

With that description, my mother purchased mauve, ankle, scrunch cowboy boots that looked rather similar to this:

These are actually just a tad worse than the actual product, but this was the closest thing I could find. So when Kinsi saw the ankle boots, she informed Mom that this was definitely NOT what Caci had in mind, and we had to go shopping immediately. So we got something similar to what was indeed wanted and tucked the goods safely in my mother's closet. A few days later, Caci emerged from said closet exclaiming how she just couldn't wait for Christmas, she was SO excited. Figuring she had seen the boots, or at least the receipt which was lying on the floor, I told my mom we should play a little joke by putting my name on the tag. [This story is so funny, I have to let Justin tell it. Here he goes.] So Christmas morning, Caci got a big boot box, excitedly ripped off the paper, and pulled out her little cowboy boots and beheld the puce product in all its pseudo-cowpolk glory. There followed such a mixture of mortification and dissembling as are seen only when the recipient of a well-intended gift professes to adore what she despises. Caci gamely tried, but with limited success, to cover her agony in the cloak of a strained smile. But even this facade faded when three minutes later Caci's eminently less-fashionable older sister, Lia, tore open a package bearing boots of exactly the description she had passed along to her mother as her heart's most ardent desire. Lia, relishing the ruse, pulled out all the stops: "BROWN, KNEE-HIGH STILETTOES!!???!!!?!! Mom, I LOVE them!!!! I've always wanted some of these!!!! How did you know!!!???!!!" Caci's face at this point suggested that she had just downed a capacious draught of wormwood and gall. "How can this be happening??!!??" her eyes seemed to scream behind the veneer of her apoplexy. "How could my mom get the one present I really, really wanted so disastrously wrong and then give MY precious boots to Lia--to LIA!!! She doesn't even care about fashion!" Trevor politely strove to save his wife from making a scene by gently turning her head away from the group, so that only he could see her seething. Lia, not wanting to press a good joke beyond the legal definition of torture, finally relented. "Just kidding, Caci! These are for you." Caci nearly fainted with relief, but at length the smile she so lately feigned shone in the full brightness of a sincerity that acknowledged that, at long last, all was right in the world.

At length, Caci sufficiently recovered from her ecstasy to ask her mother, in terms unprintable, how she managed to conjure those purplish monstrosities from the description she wanted. Mom Suttner, feeling unjustly abused and a not a little offended, suggested that this was ungenerous on Caci's part and let forth a lament that she could never please her children. Caci responded, "That's not true, Mom; I totally love these other boots. It's not that you don't pick good presents, it's just that you do so much better when someone else does the picking for you." Reassured, Mom beamed, sharing in the happiness of her second-born. As did we all.

A little freshman roommate reunion with kids. Julia really liked Preston, Preston really liked Boe, and Boe really liked being the object of hero-worship, so everyone left happy.

Lia and Chari modeling their beautiful presents from Jini, on a mission in Germany.

The family talking to Jini on the phone. Soon after this shot was taken the call was dropped and Kinsi, looking intently into the phone in an effort to get Jini back, accidentally smacked herself right in the face with the phone. She apparently has no depth perception.

Julia really liked watching her princess YouTube videos while wearing Opa's headgear.

And Julia jumping rope with the family.