Christmas (Reprise)

Then we flew home. All three flights were uneventful, on time, with pleasant staff and no problems except us. We were pretty hammered after 27 hours, and we were grateful to have Uncle John, Grandma and Grandpa Shumway come and pick us up and take us home to our house, where they were staying and had already filled the fridge and kept the light on for us. Karen and Betsy decorated a Christmas tree for us and someone even organized all of the Christmas cards. Jeff and Saydi, Hazel and Charlie were downstairs asleep, as normal people are wont to do in the wee hours of the night.
But we all woke up the next day and had another Christmas with lots of gifts and wrapping paper for all.

Here is Grandpa in one of his most characteristic moves. He is in the kitchen and has just flung a kitchen towel over his shoulder. Whenever he's in the kitchen, he keeps one here in order to wipe his hands with a little fluttering cleaning motion after he has stuck something in his mouth. If he were doing that now, his lips would be pushed out more. I think he uses this when in the kitchen so that he doesn't spray Windex all over the food, Windex being his normal handwashing maneuver in other situations, e.g. driving the car.
Here are all five Shumway grandchildren, as presently constituted. I realize it isn't a great picture, but we have such difficulty getting them together, and then keeping them still, that I had to snap it while they bellied up to the bar. Saydi, my sister-in-law, is a phenomenal photographer, and even she has a tough time catching this crowd ( think it was done once in July 2006).
Mostly there was a lot of zoning out and being jet-lagged. Five of us got full body massages on Saturday. Mine hurt like the dickens, but it was worth it. My masseuse found knots in my thigh! She said that wasn't normal, then I realized it was where Sebastian had put his giant cranium for a few hours on the plane.

Several of us also got haircuts, which Maddie and I sorely needed. Will and Sebi won't be needing any for quite a while as they recover from their Turkish gansta buzz cuts. We took Sebastian in for professional help at the BYU barbershop when he hit mushroom cloud proportions. Gwen said "That is going to take at least another two months to grow out. I suggest using gel." in her unflappable deadpan.

Here Uncle John and Grandpa help Will and Sebi work the Cars da Moofie slot car race track that Sebi got for Christmas. It was quite a hit, and Lightning McQueen always beat Doc Hudson, as opposed to the movie.
Here Maddie helps Hazel with a puzzle, and Hazel wonders why we have open flames around so many small children. Americans have been wondering this about Germans at Christmastime for decades now.

And here is Sebastian, in the shirt from the Grandparents Shumway, and the hat that Aunt Kiecoo knitted for him. All of the kids were happy to come back to their house, which was familiar to them. The difference now is that we have the basement as well, so there are new places to explore. It took us about a month, but we're finally starting to feel normal again, and like we actually live here.