Category: @family

The calm before the storm…

Christmas morning is the pinnacle of series of family events for our family this time of year. For about 20 years, Katie and I traveled to two traditional Christmas Eve Dinners, gone to Midnight mass, and spent the night at the the in-laws house. You might think that is strange since our kids are 2 and 4 years old, except that when I met Katie, her siblings on her mom’s side were 2, 4, 6, and 8, and 8, 10 on her Dad’s side.

In the past 10 years or so, we’ve had two yellow labs as a part of our lives and they have an internal alarm clock, driven by their stomach. So while the rest of the family is sleeping in just a little bit longer, my holiday tradition has become the early morning walks with the dog.

  • Buford on the Christmas Morning Walk

Walking the neighborhoods and paths during the quiet holiday mornings has to be one of the most peaceful places to be. Everything has slowed down enough to reflect on the year, be extremely grateful for the people in my life, and just enjoy the moment.

When I return, I always have thoughts of reenacting those old Folgers commercials on day time TV, where I would brew a pot of coffee and let the smell wake up the rest of the family. Well, now with Kuerig K-kups just don’t have the power and honestly, I just can’t figure out how to use my in laws coffee maker.

So then we come back and wait for the family to arise, for the next few hours are going to be a whirlwind of excitement…

  • It will just be a matter of moments

Who is in your corner… or on your chairlift?

I went skiing today with a couple of my closest long time friends.   It has been years since we have hit the slopes together and I think my favorite parts of the day were the rides up the mountain on the chairlift.  It gave us a chance to catch up with each other and pick up right where we left off.   

Throughout the day we reminisced about the old days, what’s going on in our lives today, and shared some of our goals for the future.   I was reminded about how these guys have been in my corner for years, sharing life experiences and supporting me when I needed it.   

  • Chairlifts and Conversations

A ride on the chairlift enables you to be totally present, actively listening to those with you, while you are looking over beautiful terrain.   It has to be one of the best places to have a conversation.   It also requires you to stay to the point and gives you an exit since you must dismount at the end the ride.  

Looking back, the chairlift has always been an important place in my life.   Skiing was one of the family activities that we did with my father I’ll cherish all of the great conversations we had on the long rides up the mountain.  Of course there were the awkward ones, like when I was kid and he fulfilled his obligation to talk to me about the birds and the bees.   I was stuck there, nowhere to run and hide.  

I spend hours talking with my brother-in-law (much younger than me) about his transitions from high school to college to the real world.   I also had him pinned down with no where to run.

These 10-15 minute spurts of time with friends and family (and sometimes alone with my thoughts) have been some of the most important moments in my life.

  • Taking it in with Mike and Derrick
  • Derrick and his selfies