Christmas Break

After we returned from our Austria ski trip, Christmas break began. The kids were out of school and Steve was working just a few days a week because of the holidays. We decided to host a Tamale Party on Christmas Eve. My family in CA has one every year and I miss it, so why not start our own Tamale Party tradition. In preparation, I made 137 tamales! We even got a piñata for the kids! Overall, it was a good time and although I dread making more tamales, I think we’ll be hosting again next year.

 

Our Christmas Day was quieter, we just stayed in, ripped open all the gifts first thing, spent the whole day playing with the new stuff, and I made a Turkey and all the fixings for dinner. A few days later we put on real clothes and took the kids to the slopes in Civetta for the day for our friends, the R and M families . They had a great practice area for Brian, a nice sledding hill, and a free play area. Steve and I each got in a few runs and the kids had a great time. We also went bowling and to the movies, but our break was pretty low key overall. 

Austrian Ski Trip

We did the same Squadron ski trip to the Kirchberg area of Austria that we did last year. Once again we stayed at the amazing Hotel Landgut Furtherwirt. This time our family stayed for the whole week. We skied a lot even though the snow was just okay this year. I had a skiing breakthrough on this trip and felt like I really got the hang of it. The kids weren’t interested in skiing at all, but were happy to try out a pony ride, go sledding and just play with their squadron friends in the “Happy Place.” We all took turns with a stomach bug on this trip, but even so, we managed to have a great time once again. We took one day off from skiing and headed an hour east into Salzburg to visit Red Bull’s Hanger 7. It’s a free museum of sorts with all kinds of planes and cars and even the capsule that took Felix Baumgartner to space, where he jumped back to earth, breaking the speed of sound on his way. The kids thought it was really cool. Then we visited the Christmas market, where we all tried a variety of sweets: donuts and these pancake-like things covered with different sauces. We always really enjoy this trip just before Christmas and are looking forward to doing it one last time in 2014!

The busiest day of the year….

On December 7th, we had a day jam packed with events, as weekends leading up to the holidays usually are. Steve left the house early to fly all the way to the North Pole in an F16 to pick up Santa Claus and bring him to our Ops Group Kids Christmas Party. Both the kids were so excited and proud that their Daddy was assigned this duty. When Daddy and Santa were arriving, an announcement was made in the hanger that Santa was being taxied to the hanger in a jet piloted by a “World Famous, Highly Respected Triple Nickel Pilot,” and our kids screamed “it’s our Daddy!!!!” And Daddy had lots of time to talk to Santa about the kids because before Santa even climbed down the ladder, he waved in our direction and said in his jolly way, “Hello Emily!” It made her month. She went running up and monopolized the conversation with the Jolly Old Elf. She not-so-subtly went through her list of gift demands and prattled on about a few recent and slightly embellished good deeds. One of us eventually dragged her back through the crowd so the other star struck kids could get a word in. Brian was slightly more shy (or maybe a little skeptical) and was content to play some party games while we waited for our turn on Santa’s lap. We got the standard Santa’s lap photos and he gave each kid a book, and Emily once again chatted his ear off. Overall, the kids had a blast and Emily basically fell head-over-heels for Santa. It’s so cute to see the magic of Christmas excite the kids so much!

 

Right after that party, the kids and I headed over to the base Ballet Recital, since our friends “S” and “A” from the “R Family” were performing and we wanted to support them. Emily was dancing along in the aisles, she wants to join Ballet sooooooooo bad. So bad, in fact, that we’ve been on the wait list since May with no luck. Then, just a few hours later, Steve and I attended our Squadron Christmas Dinner Party (minus kids). A super busy day but everyone had a blast!