Ho Ho Ho

I love the holidays! I love skiing!

We kicked off at home with some pre-Christmas treats and dinner with friends. Yum.

 The lights were awesome as always, and it wasn't even super cold this year.

We attended Christmas Eve church service with my Mom at the chapel we were married in at Beaver Creek. During church the snow started coming down and it managed to snow every single night that we were in the mountains.

 We woke up on Christmas day to lightly falling glittery snow. I love white Christmases! It was even white in Denver this year.

 Santa enjoyed his snack and left FFM a thank you note.

 A much anticipated gift from Santa. He didn't bring slot cars but Mom and Dad and Eric all found really cool car tracks that should last a lot longer than the slot cars that were in Santa's budget.

I'm so glad I have the opportunity to ski with my family. Earlier this year we planned to do Christmas at home, but as winter started knocking on the door all three of us got the urge to hit the slopes.  We opted for ski passes with no blackout dates, bought twice as many ski lessons as we did last year, and instead of heading to the hills right after Christmas we headed out as soon as school was out.

Travis got new gear this year, he's blindingly colorful.

Skiing at ski school with Ripperoo!

Ski school means Mom and Dad get some ski time on our own :)

It wasn't all about the skiing, we took some time off to loaf and veg.  FFM is getting into Star Wars and Travis got the entire series as a gift. Sadly it was Blu Ray and wouldn't play at the mountain house. Luckily the mountain house had Episodes 4, 5, 6 on good old VHS! Note the tiny Darth Vader figure F's holding, Luke is on the floor. DV is his favorite character, he likes the shiny helmet.

I loafed, too. And started a sweater for FFM. He's been patiently waiting for me to knit something for him and I'm finally getting around to it.  He picked different colors (the dino had to be green and he liked darker blue) so we'll see how it turns out.

We stayed all the way up to New Year's and celebrated New Year's Eve in Beaver Creek. The resort goes all out for families and had a great NYE celebration.  We dined, skated, visited with the Winterfest characters, enjoyed the "glow worm" ski down, and watched the family-friendly fireworks at 7pm. We counted down to the New Year at 8pm and shouted HAPPY NEW YEAR! across the valley.

Skating lessons are paying off!

The Winter Queen. FFM's in love again.
 Sorry Belle.

Skiers and boarders loading up for the glow worm ski down

Glow worm in action!
FFM SO wanted to do this, but he's got to advance
 a couple levels in ski school first.

A Couple QOTD

It's been awhile, but this week we had a couple of gems.
After I received an early Christmas gift of a pair of earrings, "Mommy, I'm so glad your ears are already punched." 
This morning my mom made fancy oats for everyone that included a grated apple. While she was grating F asked, "Granny Annie, why are you beating up that apple?"

Dear Santa

Translation for those not fluent in Kindergarten-ese:
He's been really good, he wants slot cars, this year has been excellent, and Red is our elf.
He read the letter and filled in the blanks 100% on his own while I was buying jeans to replace all the pairs that have recently turned into high waters.

Flipper

FFM is perfecting the flip turn. He used to twist first then try to flip.  He's getting it down, but is so excited when he does it right that he stops to hear the praise. Maybe next week he'll swim on and on...

Ache

I've started dripping tears at odd times the last 24 hours. I think thoughts (which a couple of days ago would have been totally irrational) along the lines of never letting my beloved 5 year old out of my sight. I am all out of sympathy for people who think current gun control is fine. I've heard their arguments, could see their side, but no more. I've been tipped over the edge.

I ache for the families. I ache for the children who lived through it and the parents who face the daunting task of repairing those children. I ache for and applaud the teachers who did everything they could to protect their charges. Travis commented, not in a heartless way, "I hope they {the children} are young enough that their brains just block it out and they don't remember." I fear it won't end this way and I fear this escalation of horror that cloaks our country and the world.

I support any action, governmental or otherwise, that will slow the tide of innocent children being killed. It was too many casualties 13 years ago at Columbine, and think how the tally has increased since then.

5 year olds are not equipped to battle this. They should be innocent, they are defenseless, and I want to make the world safer for them. When I was 12 I was in a position where I heard gunfire at school. It wasn't inside the school, but outside. The gunmen were people who were supposed to have guns. You know what, it was scary as hell. We lined up, crawled though the halls, and were evacuated. No one at the school was killed, but I still remember that day so clearly that I don't see how the children at Sandy Hook will ever forget.

I can't talk to F about this. We talked about Jessica Ridgeway and briefly about Aurora, but I can't talk about this. He shouldn't be scared to go to school and I don't see any way to prepare him. So it's all on us, as parents, to do something.

I'll support any and all means that will keep our nation's children safe. If adults have to make sacrifices to their rights, so be it. Our children have rights too and they can't vote for them yet. It's my job as a Mom to protect my family and I'm all in. I am open to changes from any quarter, from religious prayer to better health care and mental screening to changing how the public procures weapons.

Here is a small sample of the online places you can be heard.
We The People by the White House
SignOn Democracy in Action
Momsrising Where Moms and the People Who Love Them Go to Change the World
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