Germans in America - Part 2

I honestly didn’t think it would ever happen again.  After Martin’s parents last visit to the US, Annegret stated that the trip was her last.  She was getting too old to travel (she turned 86 in June) and the last trip resulted in pneumonia so her stance was warranted.  But somehow, through powers of persuasion, and maybe a little guilt, Martin, the kids and Meike convinced the entire Breuer clan to come back to San Francisco for another year of Christmas celebrations.  

Martin’s parents landed on December 15 and Meike, Regina and 15 month-old Rasmus joined on December 18.  

For the holidays we planned on the usual traditions: Christmas Eve at the Norwegian Seaman Church, followed by (Irish) coffee and cookies and dinner at our house, Christmas morning unwrapping presents, Christmas Dinner of crab and raviolis at my parents’ house, including Christmas crackers (aka poppers) and finally wrapping up with Boxing Day Dim Sum…all before the German contingency headed up to Arnold for a six night break from the city and ideally for a bit of skiing. 

We had our bumpy moments: Annegret and Ernst both tested positive for Covid the week before they were supposed to fly and they were informed at the airport that their premium seats were overbooked, Rasmus arrived with a cold, Meike brought the rain with her and come to find out eight people + one baby in our small apartment for more than five days is too much for me to handle. 

But we also had some really great moments and bright spots: The overbooked flight for  Annegret and Ernst resulted in an upgrade to Business class, Martin showed once again that he is a true baby-snatcher and great uncle, the rain from Meike in San Francisco guaranteed fresh snow for us at Bear Valley and a resulting two amazing days of skiing, and the kids were super excited and grateful for their presents from both Santa (a Lego Train Set for Oskar and a racing bicycle for Alva) and from the parents (each got a Mighty music player).

Other fun memories of the holiday break included: introducing the kids to Griswold's Christmas Vacation, enjoying the performing arts at both the Symphony Deck the Halls event and the San Francisco Nutcracker, taking Granny out to lunch at Nations Burger with my parents and having so much time with the kids during the break. 

German visit number two wrapped up with our traditional New Year’s Eve fondue dinner in Arnold and an early bedtime… the Germans had an early afternoon flight home on New Year’s Day and we still had to drive down the mountain to get to the airport in time.