Scenes from Austria

One night there was a ski show put on by the Instructors in the area and it was really fun to watch.

Austria here we come

We got picked up by a semi-grouchy Hello Taxi's bus driver in front of our house with a 16 passenger van and we all piled in to go to Heathrow and fly to Munich. 

We actually travelled in two groups - the California clan (5) and the rest of us (8) and arrived about an hour within each other.  Finally we walked into the grand chalet of Panorama in Maria Alm.  What a place!

We got settled into our rooms and had an amazing dinner prepared by Chef Thierry, then went to sleep at a decent hour ahead of our first day on the slopes. 

The next morning we had breakfast down in the nook 

and then set out to find skis and boots and start our adventure.

And so this is Christmas

"It's 7:31!!!" That was the loud whisper that the whole house could hear this morning as the kids were finally allowed to go downstairs and open stockings.  It was really fun to have littlies in the house for Christmas again, and our teenagers seemed to enjoy being the cool big kids.

After opening presents we went for a walk to get some fresh air.

We had quite a big brunch type meal that worked out pretty well, and then we had leftovers for dinner. It was a fabulous Christmas day and evening. The only thing was that we were missing our sister Heidi and her family, who weren't able to come over and join us. 

Tomorrow morning very early we are starting out journey to do a week of skiing in Austria!

Christmas Eve

This year we decided to have our fancy Christmas meal on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day, and it was a great call!  Here are some photos from the day

Outing to Royal Tunbridge Wells

We had another outing today with just the 9 of us to get out of the house and explore.

We had a good time in the town and did a bit of Christmas shopping.  Of course, it was lovely to come home and get cozy with everyone. Tryfs and Rhiannon were already cozy laying in front of the fireplace.  

Happy scenes round the house

It has been wonderful to be able to share big family dinners. The camping table with built in seats has worked a treat for the littlies!

They did a great job of decorating the Christmas Cake with some colorful icing.  Each of the four of them did a thoughtful drawing of what they would want to have as the decoration, and then Phoebe (as the eldest) did a great job of diplomatically selecting an aspect of each person's artwork in icing form.

Grandma Debi was a welcome source of steady warmth and comfort

And then tonight the 6 of us went out to the Hopyard for a swifty on our way to collect fish and chips that Grandma Debi paid for.

Outing to Lewes

We spent some time last night deliberating on how to spend the next day, and we converged on the decision to go into Lewes.  It was a great decision because we had a good day there.

We walked around Lewes Castle and then we had lunch in a cafe on the High Street. It was delicious and exactly what we all needed. A group of 9 walking around on a cold blustery rainy day with 4 of the 9 being littlies is kind of a handful for any cafe, but this guy was really gracious and moved tables around so we could sit together.

Cousins

It was really fun to see our kids together with [some of] their younger cousins.  Everyone is missing Jordan and Luke being here though.

The crew arrives for Christmas!

Today it really all starts, and seeing Santa on a motorcycle on our way to the airport was a good sign!  Actually it started yesterday when Will & Rebecca arrived with their younguns' Phoebe and Ingrid.  I collected them from Heathrow and we made it home before dark, then went for a afternoon walk in the forest to stretch the legs before dinner.  This morning Will and I picked up a massive 9 passenger van from Uckfield Enterprise and then drove to Heathrow again, this time to collect the California contingent of Grandma Debi, Eric, Kristin, Billy and Evan.

That all went pretty well and we got home in the late afternoon so that everyone could settle in.  It's mental but so fun to have a lot of people staying here!  

Annie wasn't too sure about the little kids (especially Evan) so she kept her distance although she was so curious about them. Kept coming over to do big sniffs and then slowly back away.

So yeah, it was a happy scene at our house!

We walked down to the Red Lion for some refreshment, and that was a great kick off to the Christmas holiday

Rhiannon's trip to Cardiff

After the saga with Evie's broken ankle which led to her not being able to go to ABBA, Rhiannon was due to visit Auntie Sioned over in Cardiff for a few days.  Rhiannon was so looking forward to this visit, since she is really close to Sions.  But then just yesterday we learned that Sioned has come down with some terrible bug and is not able to host Rhiannon! Such a bummer.  Fortunately Rhi can still go to Cardiff and stay with Auntie Nia and Uncle Cris, and cousins Gabi and Val, but missing out on special Sioned time is a real disappointment.  

So she took the bus on Saturday and has been staying with Nia and co, but they still have school this week so Rhi is going to come home a day early.  At least it was a very exciting World Cup Football Final with Argentina beating France in a fantastic game.  With Cris being an full-fledged Argentinian, it was probably quite an exciting place to be.

Then on Monday Nain and Taid came down from North Wales to be with Rhiannon while the others were at school, and then Rhi ended up taking an earlier bus to arrive home in time for the first wave of visitors to be here. 

Silent Disco 2022

Cat and I went back to do another festive Silent Disco Walking Tour of Brighton, just like last year, and it was just as good!  Actually, our leader wasn't as great as our guy last year, but it was still super fun.  Maddy joined us as well, and she is such a groover, always fun to be with.  Honestly, we three had such a giggle.  

This year our tour guide took us down to the Christmas market and it was such a lovely scene that we ended up coming back here to find something to eat afterwards. Bonus!  We had the best goat cheese pizza and a side of chips EVER. Honestly, so tasty.  A super fun night.

ABBA Voyage

We had bought dance floor tickets for Rhiannon and her friend Evie to go see the ABBA Voyage concert in London several months ago and they had been so, so excited about this event!  But then a couple of weeks ago, Evie broke her ankle and it was not looking good for her to be able to go, then when it snowed the other day she actually hurt it worse, and so I tried to find a way to get a refund and reschedule, etc.  Long story short, it didn't go very well.  And by this time it was too late to resell the tickets, so it was looking like we would just lose the money and need to book for another date in the springtime.  Sad!  But then I had the idea that maybe I could go in Evie's place?  I approached Rhiannon about this and she was fine with that.  So I left work early and we drove 3+ hours into London on this icy Friday night to get there before the doors closed at 7:45 pm.  We barely made it!!! But we did make it and it was such a special and fun evening.  I will cherish this memory forever: singing along and dancing with my precious girl in this strange but awesome concert venue.  Even writing this now (a few weeks later), my eyes well up with love and tenderness.  Here are some photos from just before and just after the concert, since we were not allowed to take any photos during it.

I know its totally wrong to thank Evie for breaking her ankle, but honestly, it was so special to go to this concert with my girl.  I'm so grateful.

Loads of snow

The snow that came yesterday afternoon really dumped quite a lot of the unexpected white stuff, and now the forecast is for cold temperatures to stay for a few days, so it looks like we can actually enjoy before it melts away!

Rhods and I went for a walk around mid morning just because we could! It was so beautiful.