Christmas and New Year come and gone

Times have been very busy here, as we had Richard's family here for a visit over Christmas. We all had a wonderful time and, I hope, so did our guests! The only disappointment was the absence of snow!

Granny and Grandpa arrived on the 18th. The following days we took easy as both kids were quite sick.
After the arrival of the rest of the family on the 22nd it was all about getting ready for Christmas. The evening of the 24th, that's when the Austrian celebrate Christmas, was great. We celebrated at my parents house with the usual croud. All visitors added we were 20 people. We were a bit worried beforehand, however it worked out wonderful and was a really nice, festive evening and Christmas celebration. My personal highlight was Hanna's eyes when she saw the Christmas tree and the litt candles while George was playing "Jingle Bells" on the piano! Thanks George - that was a perfect moment!

The next days we spent eating, drinking and doing the tourist thing - a horse carriage ride in the old city of Salzburg. A real first time for me - and I have been living in the area ever since I was born :-) - and another highlight of this week.

Richard's brother Michael stayed on until the 31st. Finally things got less hectic and we enjoyed a few quiet days. On one of these days we drove to the Postalm in search for some snow. We found it. The weather was amazing and there was about 50cm of snow. Enough for skiing. Hanna tried out her new skies. We wanted her to get used to them. Even while skiing inbetween my skiis, it was difficult for her to keep the balance - the skiis literally "ran" away from her :-). Well she is still young - there is hope :-). Finally it started snowing here in Henndorf, so I hope there will be lots of opportunities for "training"!
On Tuesday Richard, Michael and a couple of friends went go-karting. After a short introduction and training periode, they all competed in a race. Richards' comment: "I had forgotten how much hard work go-karting was!" Well, considering that he has never done anything like that since I know him (and that is over 11 years now) - no wonder he has forgotten - it has been a while :-).

The 31st we spent celebrating Richard's birthday, running the annual "Silvesterlauf" in Seekirchen and celebrating the New Year at home with our kids and friends. As we had a "bad" night the night before - we didn't see very much of the new year before we fell into bed!

In this spirit, we wish you all a Happy New Year! May it be a great and exciting one for all of you!
Richard, Christine, Hanna & Marc

P.S.: Photos can be found online.