Holidays, Hoffman-style

One of the most exciting things about moving to Washington is finally being in the same state as some of our family members.  Mark's sister, Karen, and her family live in Eastern Washington.  Christmas Eve day we packed up and drove over, excited to spend a week re-connecting.  Aubree and Ally apparently subscribe to modern definitions of "connecting" (do you think they're "chatting" with each other?).  

 For our Christmas Eve activity, we had the kids act out the Nativity. Bryce played the part of Joseph and proved to be a conscientious husband (careful, Mary, don't fall off that donkey in your condition!).

 

Ally took her role as Mary very seriously.  From what we understand, she's had a lot of practice giving birth.

 Aubree had planned ahead of time to be the angel.  She memorized her lines and performed flawlessly. 

When it was time for bed, the kids were so keyed up with the excitement of seeing each other and the anticipation of Christmas that sleep was difficult to attain.  Aubree and Ally wanted to sleep in the same room and we thought we'd at least give them the opportunity to see if that arrangement would work.  At 10 pm when I could still hear them giggling it was clear "opportunity" was as far as it would go.  I peeked in the room and both girls immediately feigned sleep. "Phew," I heard Aubree whisper as I walked away, "that was a close one!"  Once they were separated it took about .3 seconds for both of them to crash into dreamland.

The unintended upside to the late night was that no kids were awake before 8:30 am Christmas morning.  That's got to be a record, right?  

Santa had a great time filling up all of these stockings and the kids and adults were excited to empty them. 

Opening presents one at a time helped Christmas last a very long time. By the end, all the kids were on toy and present overload.  Aubree says her favorite gift was her penguin purse, her Light science kit, and her  Meet Felicity book (Aubree can never choose just one favorite anything).  Bryce's favorite gift was definitely his Duplo/MegaBlock Thomas the Train sets.  Thane got the greatest baby book ever (I've just discovered them), called Indestructibles.  It has the look and feel and allure of a paperback (what baby can resist crinkly pages?), but it's chew-proof, rip-proof, and washable!  Brilliant.
It was fun to see which toys were the most popular among all the kids.  For example, Ally got a pink princess couch that was a huge hit (I'm pretty sure she slept on it at night for the rest of the week).  She graciously allowed Bryce to sit next to her as they watched a movie (Toy Story 3! Thanks Eric & Courtney!) Christmas afternoon.

Ally also got a little tent for Christmas.  She set it up in the living room and Bryce spent the rest of the week squirreling away anything not tied down inside.  One afternoon several days after Christmas, Chris (Karen's husband) came home from work impressed with how clean the room looked.  Then he glanced inside the tent, which was 2 feet deep with toys, clothes, books, blankets, and assorted other goodies. 

Chris and Karen proved to be wonderful, patient hosts.  They cooked us gourmet meals, took us to see a holiday light show, played endless rounds of Ticket to Ride (though I graciously lost every round, just to make sure our hosts had a good time), and generally put up with us (and even agreed to let us come back!).

Me losing.  Hairstyle thanks to Aubree

I am thrilled the kids had a chance to play with their cousins.  Aubree and Ally got along very well.  They had plenty of the type of arguments you would expect from two bright, bossy, oldest children.  If anything, they're too much alike.  "No!" we'd frequently hear from one or the other, "you're not doing it right!"  But more often than not, they were happily involved in one complicated imaginative world or another.  Bryce occasionally played with the girls, but he had a whole basement full of new toys to explore.  He spent many, many hours downstairs with Dad (who had a whole basement full of books to explore).  Plus, there was a train set and Bryce can play contentedly for weeks with a train set (and remember the tent? He was a happy boy).

 Thane got to know his cousin Cora (who just turned one).  Despite being 5 months apart in age, they are exactly the same size.  Cora thought Thane was great and enjoyed giving him hugs.  Thane wasn't quite as sure how much he liked that. 

We had such a fun time - thanks, Hoffmans!