And That’s a Wrap

Consider this my 2023 holiday season scrapbook of events in pictures, quotes and short stories. 

The holiday season started off strong with the lighted tractor parade in Calistoga where Oskar and my favorite float was sponsored by a local gym which showcased Santas and elves working out and touted the phrases “Merry Fitmas” and “Happy New Rear” on the side and back of the trailer. I didn’t know it then, but those phrases have now become a classic in the Breuer Household. The parade was just as great as last year and included the addition of my parents to the tradition. 

Keeping tradition from last year we also went to see the Nutcracker again. I am not sure if the kids really like the show or just the hot chocolate and snacks during intermission but they wanted to go again, so I was more than happy to oblige. We sat in the orchestra section this time and two memories will always stick with me from this time around. Before the show started Alva turned towards me, grabbed my face with both hands, leaned in close so our noses were nearly touching and squeezed… This is her normal “I am so EXCITED” move that I thought nothing of it.  That is until, in that split second gesture, she managed to cough directly into my mouth. Man, I love being a mom. Then during intermission I told Oskar that my favorite part of the show is when the three dancers jump out of the large Faberge eggs. As soon as the eggs were rolled on to the stage, Oskar turned to me and shouted out “Mama!!”  He was excited to let me know my favorite part was coming up. 

We followed up our cultural experience with Charlie Brown at the San Francisco Symphony. My parents joined us for the occasion along with Ernst (unfortunately Martin and Annegret missed out due to Annegret not feeling well). Unbeknownst to us, the first half of the show was just music (which I loved) but resulted in the kids asking every five minutes when the movie would start. And then come to find out they didn’t actually show the movie but rather had actors on stage acting out the key parts of the movie. In the end, it was much better than the actual movie and might need to be added to the holiday tradition rotation.  We especially loved the sing along portion after the main event including the classic “We Wish You a Merry Christmas (and a Happy New Rear)… the last part might have only been sung by Oskar and I. And while there was no intermission for snacks we did have a brownie afterwards. 

We rounded out the “cultural” portion of the holidays with a Christmas Eve church service at the Norwegian Seaman’s church. I suppose we might have set ourselves up for this one… before the service Oskar asked if we had to pay for our seats. And after the service Alva was pissed that she didn’t get any sweets.  According to her “she even told us during the show that she was hungry”. 

On our way to the "show"

The views from the church balcony are one of the reasons why we go to a Norwegian speaking service

Live shows aside, it was also inevitable that with three weeks off from school there would be plenty of TV time. And while I normally love a good Christmas movie binge (Love Actually, Elf, Holidate, Die Hard anyone?) I didn’t get to watch a single one. We did however watch plenty of kids movies and possibly one too many Grizzy and The Lemmings (which we have been binging since my parents introduced us over Thanksgiving break). 

We brought back the festive Gingerbread house decorating party (on pause since 2019 due COVID), complete with seven kids and a thoroughly trashed apartment. And we ended the holidays with demolishing the actual gingerbread houses with a hammer on Jan 3.

The parents couldn't help themselves.

And let’s not forget about the food! Fresh crab, Martin’s Christmas backerei, Irish Coffees, dim sum and the now famous snowball eating competition cheating scandal of 2023 (the Breuer siblings winning the doubles competition and I came in first for singles).  The kids also really stepped up their kitchen game this year: they perfected making morning coffee (including delivery direct to me in bed) and assisted in baking ginger cranberry bread.  

We had adventures to Union square and an adventurous trip via bus and BART to my parents house on Christmas Day.  We did arts and crafts and homemade presents (bookmarks for the family). 

I had to try this one from Miller and Lux Provisions

We even had a Santa sighting on Christmas Eve … Oskar decided to pull a fast one on us and pretended to be asleep. As the story goes he heard some crunchy noise by Alva’s door (most likely the carrots or cookies she left out) followed by crunchy noise by his door (same story). He then saw a person in black (or it could have been red) walk to the living room and when Oskar followed shortly after, there were presents under the tree. And while Martin and I were in the kitchen, Martin was asleep on the couch and my back was turned from the tree (I was doing dishes) so we both missed him. 

Christmas morning was a practice in patience… Our present opening on Christmas morning took so long that I had to call an intermission after 90 minutes for breakfast. No exaggeration. 

I think this photo sums it up nicely (another beautiful candid moment, captured by Martin)

We, meaning I, even “enjoyed” a minor cry session in the bathroom on December 26 because I fundamentally needed a hug and a way to release the built up stress of trying to bring the holiday magic to life during the entire month of December while having house guests for ten of those days. 

And then we were done. And I was done. We packed our bags that afternoon and Wednesday morning we drove up to the mountains for a week of skiing and to celebrate NYE.  Spoiler alert there was no snow.