Holidays 2013: Christmas Magic, Winter Wonderland Visit, and.. Fireworks & Old Fashionds

It was sadly, our last holiday season here but we definitely made it count.  It was a perfect balance of time together, time with friends, and a little road trip.

We made our village paper!  Well, kindof.  It's a write-up on our Christmas market and if you look at the second picture down on the right, you can see us strolling through the market arm-in-arm.  

(Mike is in the plaid jacket)

  Thank you Shannon for reading and saving this for us!

Christmas Eve is ours.  Always has been, always will be.  Mike is a professional Christmas magic maker.  Late Christmas Eve we lay out the blankets, pour the champagne and Baileys, light the ceremonial candle, and listen to Christmas music while opening gifts slowly.  I'm not as organized as Mike who always has mine numbered in order of how I can open them and also a scavenger hunt.
My favorite day of the year!

One of the families we puppy sit for gave us this framed photo of their guys as a Christmas gift.  

Love it.

We're not the only crazies out there.  

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas dinner with friends down the street.  Lisa is a wonderful cook and Dave is an exceptional turkey fryer.

Once you learn the 5-shot self-timer on your camera …you just…. can't stop.

 Even when you don't set it up well.

The guys probably thought we were in the house cooking but no.  

We were shamelessly taking pictures of ourselves.

Frying the turkey.  Playing with my beloved self-timer.

New Year's Eve

It's the last time we can (legally) walk out our front door and blow up things so we decided to really do it up this year. 

The Beginner Pyromaniac's Dream

And these were just ours!  The Cooneyhaus party patrons kindly brought even more!

I really don't know.

The Shooting Station. 

 Arguably, dangerous.  

I spent half the night running for my life yet still found it to be some of the greatest fun you can have.

Fairly certain this is the one that hit someone's house.  

  If you look closely, they are all smiling.  

The 11:00 Toddy and Potty Break

The boys.  And Lisa.

The sparkly girls

Beth's video was much better than mine!

Todtnauberg, Germany

The Black Forest

Where the heck is the snow this year?  I won't complain because we are having an unseasonably warm winter.  40's-50's and sunshine many days…  Odd for this time of year.  It was so unbearably cold and gray last year!

A few days before New Year's we loaded up the Jeep and along with the Benz family, we drove 1:45 into a winter wonderland!  

http://www.hotel-sonnenalm.de  (Their website does not do this place justice)

The hotel is owned by the sweetest, young family.  

A small hotel with chalet type rooms and great views.

Taken from our bathroom window.  This little hotel was so stinkin' cute.

I had on so. many. clothes. Which was nice since I found myself falling down a lot and then rolling around in the snow like a child.