We had a wonderful (and warm!) Christmas back in Tucson and then a wonderful (but not so warm) New Years Eve in Kensington.
We flew in on the 23rd, after staying the night near BWI the night before because I just couldn't face a (very) early morning drive there. Mom, Dad, and Patrick all met us at the airport and an all-important stop was made on the way home to Eegees.
Christmas eve was pretty relaxing during the day, with a fabulous trip in the MGA in the morning to secure a buche de noel. The fuel gauge on the MGA started working even... it was a Christmas miracle!
On Christmas eve Mom made an amazing dinner and then we settled into a present a piece for the girls. Evie opened a gecko-robot and Izzy a slick sled - both from my parents. There was also some fabulous off key singing of Christmas carols that went along very nicely with my less-than stellar sight reading :)
While it was nice out during the day we had quite the rainstorm that evening. The girls left notes for Santa and the most ridiculous pile of German Christmas cookies (courtesy of Claudia). I think Evie wanted to leave him an umbrella as well, but we assured her he was accustomed to inclement weather. Christmas morning we all awoke to as close to a white Christmas as we'll
ever have... snow on the Catalinas and the girls found American girl
doll for Evie and a wellie wisher for Izzy from Santa.
They also received a sled, snowball maker, doctor kit and gecko robot from Mom and Dad among other treasures from Patrick, myself and my brother and sister-in-law. Mom, Dad, Brendon, Claudia, and I took a nice little hike in the Tucson mountains in the afternoon, creating just enough space for another fabulous dinner by my Mom.
The day after Christmas I set about setting up play dates for the girls with all of their friends. Unfortunately all of Izzy's friends were out of town :( But Evie luckily has more homebodies and was able to have a sleepover with Isabella, a hike with Nanan and Bintou and a day-long play date at Rose's house.
For the hike, which was the only play date I really actively participated in, I took the four girls down to Sabino Canyon and (of course) we hiked to the dam. It was a lovely walk, actually even a little too warm for jeans, and then the girls all played for over an hour in the stream at the dam.
We also all took a trip out to the Sonoran Desert Museum. It was lovely first thing when we arrived, but man did that place get crowded fast! I guess everyone wants to spend time outside on their Christmas break. We met my friend and her entourage of 4 kids there, which was nice but definitely added a touch of chaos to try to be navigating the crowds with 6 kids under the age of 10. Although it was only about noon when we left, I made a stop to get the girls some long-promised ice cream. Well really it was just Evie who had been promised it, for winning a bet with Patrick that should couldn't read 5 entire chapter books in one week. But I wasn't about to deny Izzy, who is also well on her way to learning to read, ice cream :)
Although we managed to pack a lot into just a few days, we did also do a fair amount of just hanging around my parent's house, which was also lovely and relaxing! Then, of course, we hit Eegee's one last time before the trek back east:
We took a red-eye home, so we actually got back to DC on New Year's Eve, slept until almost noon and then tried our best to be party-goers. Ultimately though we only made it at the neighborhood party until 10:30, but we did all make it to midnight to watch the ball drop on times square from the toasty comfort of our couch!
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