Ski Trip to Avoriaz

We just finished a fabulous trip to the ski resort of Avoriaz, France.  Avoriaz is a quaint resort in the Portes du Soleil ski area of the French/Swiss Alps.  It is car free, so people either walk around the town or hitch rides in horse-drawn sleighs (complete with sleigh bells)!  We bought a little sled and just pulled Tyler and Natasha around in it.  We stayed in a beautiful new ski-in/ski-out apartment complex complete with a spa, pool and games center.  The three older kids went to ski school for a couple hours in the morning, so that Rob and I could do some real skiing ourselves.  Natasha stayed with a babysitter every morning.  Doesn't this sound nice?  It was!  I was afraid that I would not be able to ski well because I'm 6 months pregnant but I look like I'm ready to give birth!  The skiing was just fine.  It was the bending over to help the kids that hurt me.  Once I sat down to put on Tyler's skis and I could not get up again!  It took lots of pulling from Rob to finally get me up again. One highlight for me was getting to ski from France into Switzerland.  How cool is that?

Avoriaz also puts on an amazing Christmas "spectacle" every year -- a Santa Claus, giant snowmen, and one of the best fireworks shows I've seen!

The view from our apartment window.

 Anna Claire posing with the view.

 Tyler too!

Mariah has to do it too!

 One nice part of the trip was doing Christmas without having to worry about the presents. (We opened most of the presents before we left.)  That meant that we could focus on the true meaning of Christmas and really emphasize Christ's gift to us.  Of course, we did our traditional Christmas play on Christmas Eve. . .followed by a nice raclette meal.

Tyler was our wiseman.

 Natasha wanted to be a wiseman too.

 As you can see we had plenty of wisemen!  That meant that Mommy was a shepherd and Mary (pregnant, of course) and Daddy was basically everything else!

Ski time!

"Come on Mom.  Just let me ski!"

"Woo Hoo!   Let's go fast!!!"

 Natasha cherishing her Daddy time!

Natasha got tired of watching us leave to ski every morning.  She would quickly put on her warm socks and boots, hoping we would take her.  It was hard to leave her. But she did have lots of fun sledding!  And, of course, she loved our après-ski swim parties.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We are doing presents early this year because we skiing in France on Christmas day.  It was a hassle getting all the shopping done early, but also liberating to know that I don't have to deal with the Christmas rush!  I am also thrilled that Christmas day this year will not be centered around presents.

Merry Christmas everybody!

"Yeah!  We are excited to uncover all the presents!" 

 "I love all this stuff! Can we do this everyday?"

Oh, to experience Christmas in the eyes of a 2-year-old.

Our dancing Anna

Anna is now in her 3rd year of ballet.  She really enjoys it and likes the discipline it entails.  This year, however, there are only 3 girls in the class.  The small number has actually been positive because the teacher can focus more on each of the girls.  Here are some photos from a recent "open door" session.

Istanbul

We just returned from an incredible trip to Istanbul, Turkey.  I had been once before on a daytrip 15 years ago, and Rob had never been so we were anxious to head out for a long weekend.  (Rob was speaking at a conference there during the week.)  The city truly is the crossroads between East and West.  The influence of Islam is everyone -- calls to prayer from minarets interrupt the bustling city-dwellers.  But the influence of old Christianity is also unmistakable.  The Hagia Sophia is a fascinating building, steeped in Christian and Islamic symbolism.  Just across from it, the Blue Mosque is another interesting building.  Because it is a working mosque, I had to cover my head, which is something I haven't done for awhile.  I had a Muslim friend in Nyon who made the conscious choice to become more religious and started covering her head.  She told me that hair was too beautiful and not modest to show to everyone.  It is interesting to think of hair as being an aspect of modesty.  What a different world ours would be if we all thought that way. 

Topkapi palace was also quite interesting to see -- especially the harem.  It is horrific to imagine that the Ottomans kept hundreds of concubines (many of them captured Christian women) for their pleasure and posterity.

We took some beautiful photos while in Istanbul, but they are all on Rob's phone so I will have to upload later.

Tyler was not happy with the Turkish hat we brought him, until we convinced him that it was a soldier's hat and let him wear it with his sword.  My parents brought home the exact same hat 30 years ago when they visited Turkey!  Not much has changed!

Natasha loves her Turkish princess slippers.

It's Snowing!

Yay! The snow is here.  We hope it stays through December and our ski vacation.

Building snow forts and snowmen.

Our house in the snow.  I love having a real house with a real driveway.  But I don't like shoveling!

Holiday Spirit!

It's that time of year again for all the holiday traditions that I mostly do for my kids.  This year, I tried to simplify by getting them done early!

Pulling out the good ole' Ikea Christmas tree.  I really dislike this tree.  We bought it because it was cheap and we thought we would only be in Switzerland one Christmas.  We're still using it -- 6 Christmases later.

Natasha really got into the tree trimming!

The annual Gingerbread house ooey-gooey mess.  This year, it became a gummy bear house.

Note the chocolate on Natasha's face.  I think she ate more than she decorated. 

Visiting Santa Claus.  My kids are all doubters and I don't particularly promote it.  "Mom, why do all Santa Clauses have such fake beards?"

Mariah just thinks it's fun to chat.

 "Hmmm.  What do I want?  A dinosaur!"

The annual neighborhood Christmas cookie decorating party.