Adventures in Samanthaland: Dreaming of a White Christmas

Christmas has come and gone and it always feels like a bit of a letdown to say goodbye to the holidays. Al and I took nearly two weeks off of work at the end of the year and the three of us had such a fun and special Holiday season. We spent Christmas in Truckee this year with the Cymanski family and we had an absolutely fabulous time. Ron and JoAnn rented a beautiful home in Truckee and it had plenty of room for everyone--Ron, JoAnn, Cari, Benoit, Mike, Amy, Chad, Connor, Caitlin, Allen, Samantha and I (and a partridge in a pear tree). Allen, Samantha and I arrived on Tuesday and missed a pretty big storm, but were able to reap the benefits with a day of snowboarding at Sugar Bowl. While I took it easy, Allen, Chad and Connor had a lot of fun exploring the mountain together. This was actually my first time back on a snowboard since my back surgery in 2006, so I was determined to take it easy.

It was Samantha's first time in the snow, and we both agree that she loved it. Allen is determined that she will be snowboarding in the next few years, so I assume that this was one of the first of many trips up to the Tahoe area. We took a ton of pictures, so I have tried to scale it down to my favorites from the trip. Enjoy!

Hanging out on Christmas morning--Samantha is wearing her special Christmas outfit which was a gift from Auntie Kim

On one of the days, Allen was determined to head to South Shore to hit his favorite sushi restaurant. Cari and Benoit were adventurous enough to come with us, only to find out that Sato is closed for lunch. The four of us and Samantha headed over to the village at Heavenly and had lunch at a brewery...and a stop for cookies.