Merry Merry!

We had some busy days and nights leading up to Christmas this year!

We decorated the front porch with lights. But we definitely need more for next year. 

Christmas Eve, we made cookies for the big man's arrival.

YUM!

"Santa wants milk too!"

I think Santa would have preferred some of the jagertee from the other party. 

Christmas jammies on, cookies & milk set out - we are ready!

Christmas morning fun!

Stocking goodies... 

Awesome LEGO set from our London friends...

Sooooo many presents!!

SpiderMan, Batman and Superman were all represented!

Then off to Alpine Meadows for a morning ski session!

Brrrrr - cold day! 

Kenzo thanked Santa for the gifts.

Love the new jacket from our Aussie friends for Kenzo's birthday.

Christmas dinner at our place!

Baby Morgan, Kenzo, Chase & Noah. 

Me and Jessica.

Matt and Ken.

And the return of Jagertee!! 

Ken and Lisa.


 










Fondue-palooza! So delicious and decadent. Good thing we only do this once a year.

And, of course, chocolate fondue for dessert!

Presents for the boys...

Happy jammies for the happy buddies!

And to top it off, the annual day-after-Christmas party at Mel & Katherine's condo at Squaw!

Phew!

Love the holidays, but it will be nice to get back to "normal!"

 
 

Annual

an·nu·al

ˈany(əw)əl/

adjective: annual

1.

occurring once every year.

"the friend's annual Christmas dinner"

We carried on this 18+ year tradition by having dinner at our house instead of out at a restaurant...it was awesome!

Catering was provided by D'Lish and it was a beautiful spread that included seared scallops and beef filet.

I made fondue for an appetizer, because what's better than cheese?

HOT CHEESE!

14 adults, 4 kids, 1 dog.

No sweat. 

Jeff, Tom & Dave.

Chris and Annette.

They're drinking Jagertee, which was brought by Jane & Brett. 

An alps spiced warm tea mixed with a lot of different alcohols - YUM!

Cathy brought homemade "hooch" to share with everyone!
 

LOL!

Chris, Annette, Cathy, Dave & Hilary.

Warm gingerbread pudding with vanilla creme anglaise served in the living room - getting ready for the gift exchange!
 

Janet, me & Cathy.

Eric got an ornament and a vanilla candle - ooh!

Chris and his "discrete" flask that can also double as a bullet proof vest!

Group shot, thanks to Jane!

And a shot of Kenzo, who is doing well today despite the late party last night!

Reno Culture

Strained patella tendon = days off the snow :(

Days off the snow = theater time in Reno :)

We took Noah & Matt to check out "Twas the Night Before Christmas" at the Reno Little Theater.

The boys were excited for the:
Noah "show"
Kenzo "play"
 

Posing with the cast after the performance.

One hour in a mini theater was just right for these two!
 

Big lunch for our patrons of the arts.

Cool guys.

Pooped guys.

Elf Time

December 1st brought our nightly visitor, 
Elf Chippy!

 

He brought Kenzo some cool, cozy elf jammies!

The gift giving starts early...but we can only blame ourselves, right? 

I must admit, Eric and I get a kick out of this too!

In your face!!

The Hyams family came over for our annual tree hunt!

No rain, no snow - this year was easy! 

Boys with saws... Keelan, Mason & Kenzo.

Boys with saws running through the woods...

A perfect find! 

You can tell from the scale (Milt is 5'10") that this tree is MASSIVE. 

We have a tradition of thinking the trees are smaller than they are!

Ziggy had a great time too.

Kenzo and Keelan working on the Matises tree.

8 foot ladder, 15 foot ceiling......

Yep, we did it again with the in-the-field measuring abilities!!

December 9th, Kenzo's first day of the season!

You can see the lack of snow. He wondered where we were going to ski. 

Funitel ride all to ourselves.

Note the ski pants - a bit short! Oh well, this ski outfit served us well for two years!
 

We met up with Willy and his family for a bunch of runs and lunch.

 

Me and my little ripper!

Let's hope the 2014-15 season is a big one!

We stayed home all day, safe and warm with the windy storm outside. We had a couple of blackouts, but managed to put together our annual gingerbread house!

Kenzo's decorations are much more orderly and neat this year.

And yes, we've been in our jammies all day long!