Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Day turned out perfect. We decided to go sledding before lunch, so Jfer and I borrowed a sled from my sister and dad drove the three of us up to Voegelingsegg where there is a good sledding road. It was cold but the sky was blue and the fresh snow everywhere was a blazing white. We had a good view of the lower laying areas which were partially covered under thick fog banks.

Rita was initially not too thrilled about trudging up a steep hill only to descend it later in semi-controlled fashion, but we all ended up having a blast. Jfer and I went on one sled while my dad and Rita used the other one. Nobody got hurt even though we had some off-road incidents that landed Jfer and me in deep snow.

After sledding we went back to my parents where we were joined by my sister's family for a traditional lunch of Vánočka and hot chocolate. After lunch Martina and family went home to decorate the tree, Moritz stayed at my parents and we went shopping for chocolates and other stuff to bring home.

Dinner at Martina's was delicious, as usual. The fish head soup, fried carp, potato salad (I even had little bit of that) and everything else was a hit. After dinner Martina rolled out her Christmas Cookies (seven different types, which Jfer wants to beat next year) and we sang carols in Czech, German and English before we descended on the gifts.

My mom is always grumbling about there being too many gifts, and I had to agree that she had a real point. The kids would have been quite happy to play with the first gift they opened and we almost had to force them to go on and fetch some more.

I made out like a bandit (and later had to take a big chunk of things off my Amazon wish list). I'm not going to enumerate everything, but Jfer got me a cool lens and hood for my camera. My mom was giving out home-made stain glass sun catchers and she made one of a bat for us -- and it came in a box with tickets for Die Fledermaus that we were to see in Prague.

After the kids went to bed it quieted down nicely and we spend good time together gorging on Xmas cookies and playing with Moritz' train set.