Christmas Eve thoughts.

Everyone has their Christmas stories, and this is mine, tonight anyway.
Christmas was always special. Seems like nice things always happen near the holidays. Jake asked me to marry him on his birthday, after my company Christmas party on December 10, 1998.
I remember when I was a little girl....And Christmas Eve too. On more than one Christmas eve....my dad would play the guitar and my mom would play the organ and we would all sit near the real christmas tree (I remember it had those stringy shiny icicle things all over it and when I would walk past they would stick to me because of static electricity). We would sing Christmas carols. My Dad would be rockin' the guitar and with a big Elvis Presley type smile, and sideburns to match and would be singing his version of "Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus....right down santa claus lane!" Oh god, we'd be excited. And then I remember when they would both sing..."Walking in a winter wonderland"....and then mom would sing.... "Silent Night" (In my head I can hear it right now) My mom's voice was awesome. I remember when I was a kid I really thought she had an angel's voice.

My whole entire life, it was my mother who always made sure that us kids' holidays were special. Right now, as I look under my tree. I see the gifts that my mother sent me and my family and I see how much work she put into them....even just the wrapping...they are beautiful. And I know that she put a lot of effort into what's inside. Shopping is a pain in the butt, but she's ALWAYS been good at it. And then the food, of course it was always special, in some way. Fancy waffles for breakfast and a big dinner with lots of snacks throughout.

One Christmas eve, after my oldest children were born, I was single and didn't have much money at all. I worried how I could make Christmas special for them. I think I had a total of 3 gifts for them, all from the Dollar general. I talked to mom about it and she had a great idea. We all come to her house and celebrate at her house, fall asleep Christmas eve and wait for Santa over there! And another Christmas eve, when the kids and me lived in a very small apartment and I had no where to store the bikes ... late that night my mom and Eric drove 30-40 miles at midnight in the middle of a terrible snowstorm to bring the gifts to our house so the kids would have a special Christmas. And they would do the same thing for my sister's kids, no questions asked!!

My sister and I were always spoiled at Christmastime. These days, with so many people to buy for, our Christmas' are not as obscenely big, but still they are always special...which is what I love!

I've always tried to do the same for my kids. My kids, even when they were real little and we didn't have much to make a decent holiday meal...well, we always had mom's house to go to. And, I've always made a big ta do about the holidays if I could. Luckily I don't think they remember the years when there were only a couple gifts.

Right now it is Christmas eve and it is bedtime. Ann-Marie already has sugar plumbs dancing in her head. And Jake and Brandon are watching football. But all day long I have been cooking and baking and I probably will again tomorrow. Tonight for supper we had a nice lobster tails and king crab leg dinner. Tomorrow they get the choice of blueberry or strawberry's and cream on their pancakes and then later, a big turkey dinner.

The generations change. We didn't sit by the tree singing christmas carols (well maybe just a couple), but we watched (in technicolor) Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and periodically checked http://www.noradsanta.org/index.php . Brandon and Ann-Marie put out the cookies and milk (which Ann-Marie decided the cookies and carrots needed to be on 'her kitchen' dishes from her room) . I imagine the day when my kids' kids plug in some kind of an interactive holographic chip to watch and interact with 'Santa'. Generations change, but hopefully I have instilled in them that the holidays should be special, just like my parents did to me. Thanks Mom...Merry Christmas everyone and I love and miss you all.

Ann-Marie singing..."Santa Claus is coming to town!"

Ann-Marie singing in German

Jake in the lobby of the hotel. We all had a great time. Totally relaxed at the hotel but total adrenaline at the slopes! 

Well, our trip to Garmisch was a very nice Christmas vacation. The guys went skiing and we stayed in a very nice hotel with all the comforts of home (plus some!). This was an awesome spot and we are definately coming back, probably multiple times! Brandon and Jake said that skiing was one of the most fun things they have done lately. Next season, Ann-Marie will be old enough to take lessons and so then I can try it too. 

Ann-Marie and I spent lots of time here. I've been trying to teach her to swim without the life vest but it is slow going. We LOVED the outdoor hot tub. It was FREEZING cold and snowing but every day (sometimes several times per day) we'd put on our suits and head out there. The contrasting feeling of the icy snow hitting you in the face and shoulders and the hot bubbling water was just awesome. Didn't get any pictures of that because we didn't want to get the camera soaked. 

Here is Brandon clowning around.  

Here is our view from the window of our hotel. This was taken about 8:30am. It is snowing hard and it was pitch black at 7:30am.  

Here we are in one of the restaurants in the hotel.  

Ann-Marie with the reindeer by the tree. She loved this crazy thing. She couldn't walk past it without petting it. 

The gnome wanted to ski too. But we tricked him and told him that this WAS skiing. "Just let someone hold you up there next to the mountain, close one eye and that is that....you're skiing! Now get back in the glove box" 

Here is the lobby at Edelweiss. We were looking down at it from one of the other areas. There was a piano player playing too! 

Ann-Marie on Daddy's shoulders (or soldiers as she says) by the Christmas tree.  

here we are under one of the Christmas trees in the lobby of the hotel. There were lots of chairs and couches scattered out for people to lounge in. There were families playing cards and having drinks and mingling. But there were also people limping around, sore from skiing.  

Inside our hotel room, it looks like someone dressing up to go rob the liquer store, but in reality it is Brandon getting ready for skiing. This is him in either his first or his second layer of clothing.  

Here is Jake out in front of the hotel. The painting that is on the wall....for some reason, these are everywhere down there in that area. I wonder if it is something that has come up from Austria, since it is so close to the border. Very many houses, businesses, hotels, and restaurants have paintings like these on the sides of them.  

Here is Ann-Marie after one of our sled crashes down the hill. Notice snow is everywhere. I think I somehow got wedged on top of her when we crashed but we both ended up with a face full of snow. She didn't mind, she giggled the whole time and then ate the snow. I admit that I had a few bites of snow myself! Delicious Alpine snow! 

Here everyone is ready for our day of skiing and sledding. The guys went for their ski lessons on day one and then accidently got off the ski lift on the 'expert' hill on day two. They have hilarious stories about that day, for sure. Ann-Marie and I went sledding while they went skiing. Then on day two we hiked a nice trail. While we went sledding, for only about 3 hours, it snowed about 2 feet. I'm not kidding, I could hardly get the car out of the plowed snow in the parking lot..and literally had to brush two feet of snow off of the car. But it made it nice and soft for the guys when the fell down. 

Here is Brandon and I right before Jake and him went skiing. Notice how snowy it is? We are right in front of the ski lodge and you can even see the bunny hill that they got their ski lessons on in the back. 

Getting ready to hit the slopes! 

Here the guys are trying on their ski boots in teh ski lodge. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of them skiing. Jake was afraid to take the camera with them. He said, "it would hurt to fall on it...you know, we don't just fall on our butts when we go down...we fall on our backs and fronts and sides and legs and arms and on and on" They said they must have fallen down a hundred times. I love hearing their stories though. They really had me cracking up hard listening to their two days skiing. 

Jake, Ann-Marie and Brandon in the lobby of Edelweiss. There is a big sleigh they are near. Brandon and Jake just finished skiing. No broken bones!!!! 

Here is Brandon and the gnome in Garmisch.  

While the fellas were skiing Ann-Marie and I discovered the most beautiful winter scene I could imagine. We went to the Partnachklamm. The Partnach is a river that runs through Garmisch and klamm means 'gorge'. So we hiked along for about a total of 3 and half hours but it was so well worth it. The most gorgeous visual surprise! 

This was the view straight up while on our hike at the Partnachklamm. After a while snow started to fall and it was just so pretty. The flakes would come down and go straight into the water or just coat the big icicles. 

We stopped for some cocoa. They served it on this cute little tray with a little lantern candle. 

We walked through tunnels like this in some spots while at the gorge.