Malla went upstairs to see if the kids had picked up their rooms, and growled in discomfort as she rubbed her furry arms, it was freezing cold up there. She opened the doors one by one, and when she came to Lumpy's room her mouth fell open and a howl of disbelief escaped her. Lumpy's window was wide open and the snow was pouring in. She marched over to the window and slammed it shut and howled for the whole house to hear, then marched down the stairs to find her youngest cub.

"Boy this is a rough house to take a nap in," Han said as he tried to get untangled from the blanket on the couch.

Malla came down the stairs and didn't even acknowledge the smuggler as she stormed into the kitchen and howled at Lumpy about leaving his window open in a blizzard like this. Lumpy held his furry arms out to his sides and shook his head and howled in response that he hadn't. Malla was unwavering and pointed to the stairs and told him to go to his room. With a defeated honk, Lumpy looked down towards the floor and stomped his feet the whole way upstairs.

"Hey Malla," Han said as he stood up, "cut the kid some slack, he's never seen snow before, it's new, it's exciting for him."

Malla roared in response. Just because they lived in a tree didn't mean she wasn't going to keep a clean house. They never had any issues with water damage when it rained, she sure wasn't going to let the snow damage anything now.

The wookiee went over to the counter and picked up a huge pot and put it on the table.

"That dinner for tomorrow night?" Han asked.

Malla nodded with a grunt.

Han went over to the table and peered over the top of the pot and inquired, "Where's the bantha meat?"

Malla grumbled in response.

Han did a double take. "That's it?"

Malla nodded.

"Did it shrink already?" he asked.

Malla snorted.

"Why didn't you tell us before? We could've stopped at Tatooine and bagged a full size one for dinner," Han said.

Malla let out a groaning howl in response.

"Don't worry, Malla," he said as he reached up and patted her on the shoulder, "every year you worry it won't be any good and every year it's always perfect."

The wookiee let out a small rumble.

"Yeah well I know a lot about wookiee food, and yours is always the best," Han told her.

Malla gave a small grunt and turned to the side, even a wookiee woman could be humble.

"Chewie's a very lucky guy," Han said.

Chewbacca lay on his and Malla's bed on the second floor of the tree house and reveled in the familiar sensations of being home. His life debt to Han Solo decreed he would follow the Corellian anywhere, to the ends of the galaxy if need be, and the Millennium Falcon was just as much home to him as it was to Han, but this was his true home, and he was always grateful when he was able to return to it, if only for a short while.

He'd been laying there in the afternoon bleakness for a while, the snow continuing to come down outside and on occasion the wind would howl like a screaming banshee, and in here it was nice and warm, he felt the familiar blankets, inhaled the familiar scents of home. This was paradise.

"Chewie!" Han's disgruntled voice traveled up the stairs, "We need to talk."

And just like that, paradise was lost. Chewie opened his eyes and snorted a long exhale of discontent and stood up. His and Malla's bedroom opened straight out to the top of the stairs. He saw Han's head come into view, but he noticed the Corellian seemed slow to actually get up the stairs.

"Now you know," the human said, his voice continuing to bounce off the walls, "that I'm crazy about your kids, and I know that they can be a little rambunctious, especially around the holiday, but this is going too far!"

Han finally reached the top of the stairs and Chewbacca realized what had taken him so long.

The Corellian stood rigid as a droid, the reason being Chewie's cubs had encircled him from the elbows to his boots with bright colored streamers, until he looked like a partial mummy. He'd about had to hop the whole way up the stairs.

"They decided to kill some time by making a human maypole out of me," Han explained as he hopped into the bedroom.

Chewbacca threw his head back and roared in disbelief. He curled a huge furry finger to wave the Corellian over, looked the whole mess up and down, found a starting point, grabbed a pawful of the streamers and gave them a strong yank, effectively spinning Han's whole body and causing him to fall back on the bed. Chewie wrapped the streamers around his fist for better leverage and continued unwinding them.

"Thanks, Chewie," Han commented. "Boy, tomorrow better get here quick, I hate to think what they're gonna do next if they get too bored."

Lumpy was bored. He sat on the floor by his bed and next to his giant stuffed bantha, he looked at the toy animal and hit it in the head, it bobbed down and then right back into place. Suddenly an idea came to the cub, he scurried under his bed and crawled back out with his portable video player complete with headphones and a new video cartridge he'd gotten from one of the local traders.

He loaded the cartridge, put on the headset and watched as a cartoon video started playing, "The Faithful Wookiee", a cartoon based on his dad and the humans and droids he hung out with. After the Death Star was destroyed, there was cause for celebration all across the galaxy even though everybody knew the Empire wouldn't admit defeat and instead would just start over, during that time, several underground organizations started putting out unofficial films and holocomics about his dad and his friends, making them out to be a group of folk heroes, almost a myth.

A few minutes into the cartoon, Han Solo happened to be passing by in the hall when he heard the excited grunts and honks of Chewie's youngest son and popped his head in to see what was going on.

"Hey Lumpy," he said as he stepped inside, "I like what you've done with your room."

The wookiee cub lifted his head and chattered at the smuggler.

"Watcha watching, buddy?" he asked as he crouched down beside Lumpy to get a look.

Lumpy howled and held the earphones out for Han. He took them, adjusted them, sat in front of the player and watched the cartoon for a couple minutes before a sudden look of disbelief and outrage formed on his face. He ripped the headphones off and got to his feet and stepped to the door and bellowed out, "Chewie!"

A howl from up the hall answered him.

"Get in here!" Han stabbed an index finger in the general direction.

The eight foot wookiee stepped into the room grumbling.

"Have you seen this?" Han pointed to the video player.

Lumpy stood by the machine with an innocent look on his face and held his headphones out to his father. Chewbacca adjusted the headphones to their maximum expansion and put them on to fully experience the cartoon.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Han asked his friend.

The wookiee shrugged his shoulders slightly and snorted with a nod.

"Who came up with this trash?" Han wanted to know.

Chewbacca gave a more pronounced shrug as he took the headphones off and gave them back to his son.

"My nose is not that big!" Han insisted.

Chewbacca made a small howl in response.

Han did a double take and demanded to know, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Chewie howled dismissively as he lightly shoved the Corellian out of the room to leave Lumpy alone and let him watch his video. The cub wasn't bothering anybody, so don't bother him.