dia de la familia

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Uncle Russ

Uncle Russ and Aunt Tonya's house in Houston.

Jack gets to know Uncle Russ.

Jack gets to know Uncle Russ enough to horse around.

Nobody was hurt in the production of these photographs.

You pick it...

...then you wipe it.

Thanks, Uncle Russ.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Texas Dogs

Wendy and Chewy

I hear Wendy (Windy?) is named after the Windham Resorts

Rumor has it that Chewy's kids named him after the Charleston Chew

But he's really more of a Caramel Lab. He had parvo before he was a year old. He survived but his growth was stunted. He's a sweet boy. Wendy's a sweet girl. We're having a sweet time.

Christmas evening at the Irwin's

No flash on these first few. Bailey and Ben each got cold hard cash for their Christmas presents from the Houges.

I gave them each four $10 bills, folded into the shape of a Christmas tree, packed into those great little magnetic clasp boxes I bought on clearance at the Scottsdale Target the day after Christmas last year.

David got actual presents.

David looks like Matthew McConaughy is his father. Don't tell Todd I said that.

He got trucks, a monster truck that goes, and an outfit built around a Go, Diego, Go! t-shirt.

Jack got The Other Lego Star Wars game for PC, a Spiderman watch, a set of Batman tableware, some Batman pencils, and one of my favorite holiday books: Mortimer's Christmas Manger. Santa also left some stuff for his stocking, but because we left his stocking in Tucson, Santa left Jack's stocking stuff in a Ziplock bag at the Irwin's.

For the rest of the day we jumped on the trampoline, walked around the lake, had a delicious ham dinner, and played some Wii. 'Twas a Merry Christmas.

Christmas Morning

Santa brought Jack two sets of Star Wars Galactic Heroes which Jack enjoyed for a mere three seconds before tearing into a gift he thought he could guess. He was right. Lego Star Wars for the PC, that he can play on the laptop at home.

He also got a Playmobil set that was on his Greed List. After opening his gifts, though, he was disappointed that Santa brought him only two little sets of Galactic Heroes. I explained to him that Santa knew that all he really wanted was Lego Star Wars, and Santa knew that I had already got it for him. Jack dealt with that explanation pretty well.

I think Wendy got more gifts from her mom and dad than Jack got from his. Wendy is, after all, an only and much-spoiled child.

But who can blame her parents? Isn't she cute?

Christmas Eve

The adults and the girls gathered in the kitchen to nibble on finger foods.

The boys played Guitar Hero in the Rec Room.

Ben's really good, and Jack is learning, though he'd far prefer to play Lego Star Wars.

David thought he was playing.

Then we exchanged gifts, and I ate Tonya's homemade cheesecake. There are a lot of pictures of me eating cheesecake.

Jack's just as taken with Ben as he is with Ben's gifts.

Here's all four kids, and me eating more cheesecake.

After the gifts, Ben challenged Russ to a round of Guitar Hero. I'm pretty sure I ate more cheesecake.

Todd and Amy.

Baby David, right before he broke the wine glass.

In Texas it's legal to shoot off Pretty Major Fireworks if you're outside city limits. Guess who lives outside city limits?

Pretty.

Major.

Fireworks.

The delight is evident.

arrival

Apparently C-3PO and R2-D2 had stopped by Uncle Russ's before we arrived to drop off a present for Jack. He was very pleased to find Lego Star Wars for the PS2. Uncle Russ set him up and he's been playing at every opportunity. Gives the adults time to socialize and do grown-up things.

Here's Wendy, Russ and Tonya's angel dog. She's a 5-yr-old purebred Golden that came to them through the SPCA. She'd been dropped off at closing time Friday night by a family whose baby developed an allergy to her. Russ and Tonya were at the SPCA Saturday morning to meet her and bring her home. "Best 65 dollars I've ever spent," says Tonya.

And here's Tonya, our fabulous host. She and Russ have been married about 4 years, I think. Their house in Houston is gorgeous. Tonya's style really appeals to me. They're very gracious hosts. I feel very comfortable here, and very welcome.

Here's Uncle Russ, Master of His Domain.

We're happy to be here.

The Journey

This year for Christmas we drove to Houston, TX, to spend the holidays with some of Dave's family. Since moving to Arizona we've had every Christmas with MamaDee and PapaDee. That's the tradition, what feels familiar. This year we broke with tradition. Though we miss the Familiar Family Christmas, it's been nice to share the holidays with another side of our family.

We left only an hour late the Saturday before Christmas. Jack prepared to climb into the car only to find his seat occupied by Harry, who had returned from the North Pole with an early Christmas present from Santa. Harry brought Jack a Leapster and a Batman game to play on the long ride to Houston. Though the photo is blurry, the joy is evident.

Jack played and played. When the second set of batteries on the Leapster ran out, Jack watched the tiny TV. On long trips like these he prefers to watch School House Rocks or vintage cartoons. Don't ask me why. It's OK with me. And when he started getting grouchy and whiny, he turned it off and went to sleep.

He slept for three hours, and I stitched and stitched. Now that I'm knitting I find that I thoroughly enjoy long car trips. Gives you lots of time to work on that knit 1, purl 1 ribbing.

Harry

Here's Jack with Harry. Harry is an emissary from the North Pole, gifted by MamaDee and PapaDee to Jack the year he was two and we rode The Polar Express. Each year since then, Harry goes back to the North Pole to help Santa in his workshop, and each year he comes back to Jack a little after Thanksgiving. This year he came back after Thanksgiving and then disappeared again. You'll find out why in the next post.