It is Christmas Day 2018 at 6:25 AM. Usually I like to write a Christmas Eve post to reflect on Christmases past and the magic that comes only on that night but I have caught a cold and wasn’t feeling too well.
I just ran myself too ragged: we took a trip to Lake Tahoe and went snowboarding/skiing for a couple of days with our friends the Denmans. After skiing it was then lots of food and wine usually followed by a poor nights sleep. The altitude, extreme exhaustion and of course the wine all contribute to not sleeping well and so you’re never really recovered from the day before.
Well, except from being tired I felt fine on the four hour drive through the rain. After having so much food and wine the first thing I wanted to do was workout which I did. I then took a shower and finally helped Ren with his aquarium set which took about an hour to put together. Getting up off the floor I was so tired and stiff and as I walked into the hallway a chill ran right through me and it was then I knew it wasn’t allergies that kept me blowing my nose but I had come down with a cold, and possibly but hopefully not, the flu.
It has remained a cold and I had a good nights sleep except for Kai waking me up at 11 PM to let me know Santa had some and then again at 2 AM to let me know what one of the presents was and ask if we still had to sleep. I told him we did have to sleep and was amazed that he could go back to bed. If it were me at the same age I might have been much too excited.
He woke up again at 6 and asked if we could go look at the presents and I obliged. One difference between our generations is I would just have sat down and still be looking at those presents until it was time to open them. Kai however is busy on his iPad which holds so much sway over kids these days. I imagine Kai will play with his new toys for perhaps a few hours but then go straight back to that iPad. Seems to be the only “toy” kids need these days.
We are now in the living room with soft light on, my fireplace DVD playing the gentle ‘snow’ music and waiting for Ren to wake up. I’ve made the coffee but have opted for tea since it goes better with a cold in my opinion.
But going back to our time in Tahoe it was fantastic. The best part was that Kai learned to ski in one day! I put him in a half day lesson which all included cost $115 so not exactly cheap. Afterwards he went down the Schoolhouse slope a few times and then Brandon said he should try the bigger hill. Kai did great! He fell just a few times and at first was very upset. Hitomi was skiing with him and we think he wanted to impress her so was upset with himself when he fell. He did much better with me because when they came in I told him to watch that hill and how many people fell down. It was then my turn to go with him and being on a snowboard I can just plop down when he fell and hold his skiis in place to help him get them back on.
Over the next two days Kai fell less and less and his speed faster and faster. I’m really impressed and proud of him. We might consider putting Ren in the lessons when we’re back in February but could also wait until next year. Knowing how to ski here in the Bay Area is very important since Lake Tahoe is so close and will be an activity their friends will want to do not only now but high school and college trips. You wouldn’t want to be left behind on account of not knowing how to ski.
This is also different from when I was a kid because Ohio has no mountains and thus knowing how to ski not important at all. There was a ski club in high school but that didn’t seem too appealing, nor the slopes they visited.
I forgot to mention that I like to record Christmas and the opening of presents for playback years from now when I’ll really miss these little guys. It was kind of a chore putting up the video recorder: our good one broke and so we bought a cheap one off Amazon but the picture quality is terrible so won’t be using it. Instead I installed another security camera in the front room and this time with sound. It has a nice angle from up there in the corner and is constantly recording so I can just download that file and not use a video recorder at all.
The time is now 6:49 and I think I’ll look at some pictures from my own childhood Christmases, upload them and shoot them over as a small Christmas gift to my parents and sister.
