Sun + River = Sunriver

Happy New Year! I hope you all made it through to the other side. I know I had a great vacation that ended just like it always does.....with visions of school opening dancing in my head. We had a jam packed holiday schedule so I'm not ashamed to admit that I was ready for some semblance of normalcy to return. I'll let you know what that looks like when it finally does.

The holiday break was especially interesting this year since we had my birthday which I've successfully stretched to most of the month, Hanukkah overlapping Christmas, a quick un-holidaying of the house and then we left soon after that for our New Year's Eve in Central Oregon. For the past three years we've been heading out of town for New Year celebrating. Two years we went to the coast and this year we headed to snow. And sun. It says a lot about Portland that I was even more enamored with the sunshine we found than the incredibly beautiful snow.  We've had some dark winter days lately.  And Central Oregon is quite an incredibly sight. The combination of snow and sun brings me back to Flagstaff.

We braved a snow pass by Mt. Hood with my lovely Scion xb and it's teeny tiny tires. Luckily we didn't have to put on chains and we didn't slide or roll or any of those other dangerous verbs. Plus, we braved three or so hours in the car with kids and the dog. A dog who had to be experiencing the best vacation ever: no kitten, no fences, no rules and unlimited access to the bed and couch.  The kids were pretty elated also. Six kids unleashed on the snowy hills of Bend. They went skiing and sledding and tromping through the snow. They made snow angels and snowballs and snow cones. One day we took them on a walk to find the Deschutes River.  We never found that river but we enjoyed the two hours of walking. 'We' (read-the adults) may have loved the journey, but the kids waffled and wailed and whined a bit too much so that eventually they had to be dragged on the sled back to the house. Luckily we had a hot tub to soothe their tortured bodies. And, for some, the promise of nachos.

I love ringing in the New Year this way. I am surrounded by friends I love and so are my children. We eat rich and amazing food, drink Spanish coffees and margaritas, play endless games, laugh, yell, sing and dance.  It is exactly how I want to end my year....and begin my new one.