December: Part II

"Mom said there are a LOT of pictures in this post. Are you excited? I am."

Wait, HOW many pictures?!!!

"Ohhhhhh.  Well, yes, I can see that it would be hard to choose from over
300 pictures of Christmas. Especially if many of those are pictures of ME."

Eve is right. There were a lot of pictures from Christmas/our visit to Idaho. Many of these are posted for the sake of family members who forgot/neglected to take their own pictures (no judgement here, that used to be me) so bear with me if it seems like overkill.


Pre-Christmas Activities

Baking cookies with Baca. Operating the mixer is the cooking equivalent of power tools, so of course Charlie monopolized that task.

Pouring and stirring is a better job for Thea and accident-prone Antonia

Will figured out a long time ago that holding a baby is a good way to lounge around without being accused of loafing. 

This is the 'buddy chair," good for watching football and other buddy stuff.

Grace, (Bryan and Brittany's) Miriam (Jo and Richard's)
and the imp, she of the mischievous grin 

making Christmas crafts with Baca and aunt Jo

I remember making a felt mouse with a candy cane tail when I was a kid,  good Christmas crafts are timeless like that.

Christmas Eve Festivities

Traditional Christmas Eve dinner: Papa Murphy's Take 'n Bake. I think I should point out  one more time that I saved Christmas Eve by insisting that we not break with tradition and get Winco pizza. The horror! You're welcome, everyone who ate all the garlic chicken pizza.

Mary and Baby Pooma, er, I mean, Baby Jesus.

Wise man Eli, looking a little troubled. Maybe he's wondering when his two companions will show up.  Sorry, Eli, there are not yet enough cousins who know how to walk to have three wise men. 

A solemn angel. 

Nativity mise-en-scene

Everyone did a great job staying in character: see the humble shepherd, quaking at the sight... and Mary pondering the wonder of it all in her heart, and Joseph looking on... awkwardly

Cast Photo

Yay, it's almost time to open a present!

Christmas jammies! Thanks, Grandma!

This might not be the cutest Christmas Eve picture ever, but it definitely captures the dynamic between those two at the end of a long, busy day, when Antonia gets silly and ridiculous, and Charlie gets grumpy and indifferent.

watch for Grace sticking her finger in Simon's mouth in the last two frames

Best way to end a stressful photo shoot: dogpile!

Best way to end a dogpile: Uncle Bryan jumps on, and someone gets squished

Gummy Grace vs. Gummy Joe: 

One can open a can of soda with his Chomper, but the other is definitely cuter

Christmas Day

Yay! More Star Wars! More Legos! 
More Star Wars Legos!

I think this expression says "I love my doll and my new stroller, but weren't there supposed to be THREE strollers? What gives?"

Not sure why my necklace is all cockeyed, and I'm trying to show everyone as much of my neck as possible...where are my photo stylists when I need them?

Sleeping Beauty slept right through the family picture

Some time in the previous 24 hours, a blue marker lid was found on the floor and I remarked that it's never good to find a marker lid lying around, because that means there's a lid-less marker floating around somewhere. And while I certainly DO like to be proved right, it's just too bad that this is how it had to go down.

I thought I'd snap a few pictures of the kids gathered to watch the first ever Hall Family Variety Show, but Antonia was up to her usual shenanigans. She deliberately faced the wrong way, giggling all the while and not caring that no one else was laughing, particularly not me.

The Variety Show

Bird Family act- "Hit the Road, Jack."  You can't even imagine how awesome it was to see Richard doing his best Ray Charles and my nephews doing motown choreography.

Jo and Richard must be doing something right if they can get these boys to wear wigs and dance and sing in front of people. And be ridiculously cute doing it.

Evan and Jenessa's act: "The History of Our Relationship in 90 Seconds" hilarious and apropos, considering they're newlyweds and smarty English majors.  In fact, Evan is now writing Utah Jazz game recaps for ESPN's Daily Dime. Our little Hibs, all grown up.

Brittany's act: a delightful story she had written, sort of a fable version of real events in her life. Oh, how we love the way Brit's mind works

Bryan's act: a rousing rendition of "Casey at the Bat, " brilliantly acted and perfectly memorized. I would have been bowled over by the feat of memorizing that entire poem if it had been anybody else, but Bryan has a mind like a steel trap. A steel trap that traps words and holds them for years and years. The man can remember entire dialogues from movies he's seen naught but once; I, on the other hand, sometimes sit in my car with the key in the ignition as the seconds tick by, just trying to remember where I was supposed to be going. 

These boys were enthralled, ENTHRALLED I tell you, by "Casey at the Bat."  

Not pictured: Darren and Ashley Hall doing a clarinet/ sign language duet, (which--sadly--I missed whilst taking care of a crying baby); Lori charming us with a solo version of the previously-mentioned "How Can I Keep From Singing?" (otherwise known as "How Can I Stop Singing?"), and Will and I doing a rockin' piano duet, plus a trumpet/piano Ave Maria. My mom and dad contributed the entractes: My mom with some food for thought, and my dad with his legendary "thumb dance," indescribable because it is unlike anything else you've ever seen. Like the Loch Ness Monster. And also like the Loch Ness monster, only a lucky few have ever witnessed it. I bet you're curious now, aren't you.  Anyway, I sincerely hope the Hall Family Variety Show becomes a tradition every time we're all together, and next time we'll have it documented in video. (But probably only with assurances that nothing ends up on Youtube.)

Post-Christmas Activities

 The two youngest cousins, Eve and Sonya, in a rare moment of downtime from their otherwise hectic schedules and busy social calendars.

Flag football in the backyard (thank goodness for a mild Idaho winter this year!)

I wish I had a picture that fairly illustrated Charlie's sheer enjoyment of the game. He doesn't talk about football very much, or seek it out, but MAN does he love to play

I'm pretty sure we could have fed these kids nothing but sliced apple "nachos" for two weeks straight and heard no complaints. They ARE drizzled with caramel sauce and mini chocolate chips, after all...

Oh boy, Charlie's already giving me that coat-off-the-shoulder attitude usually exhibited by middle-schoolers and teenagers...

This was supposed to be an all-cousin photo shoot, but we lost a few to naps, timeouts and not being able to sit up unassisted. These are the four that were left: Nia, "Miss", Eli and Charlie 

I am so excited to see what these girls are like in about  5 years. 

Bowling pals, I think they're calling themselves "The Pinheads"

"Help me! I just want my thumb in my mouth and I keep missing and hitting my eye..."

Will had to fetch a stranded ball that only had enough oomph to get halfway down the lane. I'm actually surprised  that this only happened once, considering Antonia's technique is to just drop the ball at her feet, and then run back to her seat giggling, without even a glance back.

All the shoe-wearing little girls somehow ended up with the same boots.   I don't really think there could have been any other outcome. Let's do the math:  three sisters+seven trips to Target+25% off= three pairs of the same cute boots.

Courtesy of Pinterest, Jo came up with this fantastic New Year's Eve game for the kids: each bag has a different treat or activity, to be opened at regular increments leading up to midnight. Or in our case, 9:00pm.

Glow sticks from the 8:00 bag

That's all. Happy 2012!