Climb Every Mountain: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.... Einen Guten Rutsch

Knee deep in snow in Chamonix

Yummy hamburger in Chamonix!

Opening her duplo train

So we are a little late wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, but right on time for the Happy New Year :) This year we did not fly back to America since I was 37 weeks pregnant, so we had our first Christmas as a family, without seeing any extended family. It was nice and relaxed, well relaxed for us. That is one thing we have learned about ourselves this year is that we don't know how to relax very well and we like to be time efficient with our activities. Simply put we are not gemütlich people, but trying to learn just a little bit how to be!

Christmas morning walk

Hiking in Chamonix

John would typically have about two weeks off for the Christmas holiday, but his project at work had some deadlines this year so he worked 3 days of the holiday. Which works out good because of working those extra days he can take a whole week off after the baby arrives, without using vacation! Since he worked some of the holiday and we didn't want to get too far away from home, being that I was 2.5 weeks away from my due date, we decided to rent a apartment outside of Chamonix, France. This town is an outdoor lovers paradise and is situated at the base of Mt. Blanc. We enjoyed a lovely hike, snowfall, snowshoe hike, shopping, and good food. We would love to go back in the summer for more hiking. It is also a very kid friendly area with daycares available for children on the ski slopes and in the town, so maybe we can take advantage of that next time :) Plus it was a nice last trip as a family of 3.

As we look forward to the next year, the obvious thing that we are awaiting is the arrival of "Baby Brother" in January. We are excited, nervous, and realize that our fairly simple life is about to get crazy again..... oh the joys of the newborn stage :)

Enjoy the photos!