2024 is rapidly coming to a close. It’s been a difficult one and usually around this time I start reflecting on the year and looking forward to the next one. I also often take a break during the holidays to work on my own business and get some end-of-the-year downtime.
Today, I’ll be driving Mario’s dad to Portland International Airport so he can visit his friend and family in Norway. From there, I’ll be heading to a small resort in the foothills of Mount Hood. I’ve never actually been up to Mount Hood as it was always too far for a day trip and I usually just always wanted to go to my favorite ski resort, Hoodoo, which is a bit closer.
A couple weeks ago, I sold Mario’s ski boots to a local guy who was giving up snowboarding and going back to skiing and was tired of renting equipment. I was glad that someone else could get some use out of them. Mario tried snowboarding a handful of times and just could not get the knack of it. I remember the first time he and I went to Big Bear in Southern California. I legit thought he was going to collapse on the mountain because he was not “in shape” in any sense of the word and was smoking Marlboro cigarettes like a chimney. He couldn’t stand up on the snowboard and go further than about 6 feet on the bunny hill before crashing. I tried every which way to give him pointers and advice and nothing was working. After about 2 hours of that, he drug the rental board and boots back to the lodge and went and had a beer.
This was pretty early on in our relationship so he bowed out of going snowboarding with me and went with other friends for years, until one winter we decided to go to Las Vegas and I coaxed him to go to a ski area in the mountains about an hour or so away.
He mentioned that he could ski before, so he rented some skis and boots and off we went. He didn’t fall once on the skis. Some people are just cut out more for skiing and others snowboarding. I’m definitely team snowboard. There may be some time in the future I may try skiing. Maybe cross country skiing would be nice, but I don’t know about downhill. I just see too many new skiers looking like broken windmills littered across the bunny hill every time I’m riding up on the lift! Anyway, we had a really nice day on that hill, then went back to our hotel in Las Vegas.
So every time I go off to a mountain to do some snowboarding these days, I can’t help but think of the times Mario and I went together and the fun we had.
I don’t have any other big plans for Christmas and will have to pick up Mario’s dad at the airport again on New Years Eve, so it should be the perfect time for reflection and recharging (even if I still have a pile of other work to do).
I’ll do some baking. I love to play around with cookie recipes, slightly modifying them to create new variations. I might even make some potato gnocchi and red sauce, which is something my family often made around Christmas. Pure Italian comfort food.
It’s been fairly cold out (for Southern Oregon) so it’s definitely feeling like Christmas time. If it gets any colder and we get more weather, it might even snow. A few years back we actually had a white Christmas (my first one!). I’ll turn on the fireplace, brew some tea, and eat all the comfort food. It’s a good way to wrap up which was not one of the “better” years.
