Out with the old, in with the new

Energy: A unit by which to measure hyperactivity in children. 

On the energy scale, I would have to say that Apollo and Orion float somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 on most days but push a 9 out of 10 for a couple hours per day with the occasional red line of an 11. The ramp up to christmas was nothing short of an overload. Even amongst all the chaos, I believe this was the funnest Christmas thus far, for Apollo and Orion. They have been counting down the days since Thanksgiving. The last 10 days, the Grinch paid nightly visits to stir up a bit of trouble, if only to see if the boys caused his heart to grow 3 sizes that day by doing good deeds. If so, as a reward, little presents were left behind. Our Grinch was very creative I might add.
  This only amplified the energy level each day until it peaked on Christmas eve and Christmas morning. This is what makes the holidays worth it for me. That level of excitement makes the house feel alive! The smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree and Greek cookies, lights and decorations, and the laughter of Apollo and Orion, made the holiday picture complete.

Thanks to Amazon, eBay and other online e-tailers, we can pretty much avoid the malls and the stores, and this makes the holiday that much more pleasant for me. I love the excitement and the spirit of the holidays but can really do without the crowds at the stores. For me, it is all about quality family time and enjoying each others company. Melanie and I were able to sneak out and celebrate our 11th anniversary at The French Laundry, which was an amazing way to finish the year! 

For my own reasons, I am glad the year is over. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed nearly everyday of the holiday season, with the exception of 2 days spent crammed into the truck driving to and from central Oregon for Thanksgiving. It's just that this year seemed like each day was a battle to make it through to the next day. Everything was an uphill battle. It has just been an enormous amount of work. Moving on to our next big adventure starting at the 1st of the year, has been a 2 month long process of angst, anticipation, and waiting. Now that the "process" and waiting is over, I was able to unwind and relax for the New Year holiday and enjoy my family.
  Looking back, in spite of the struggles, we really had an epic year and I wouldn't replace any of it. Melanie and I completed 2 Ragnar Relay Races together; Napa Valley and Southern California. Melanie did a half marathon, and I did a metric century bike ride and also completed the Levi's Gran Fondo. I hit 3,001 total miles road biking.
  We sold the mini van and bought a Jeep Wrangler. We camped, we hiked, and we explored new places. We made some great new friends along the way and got reacquainted with some old ones.
  We made the most with what little we had to work with this past year and we really hit most of our goals and even exceeded some of them. 2016 promises to be a whole new adventure for us. New challenges and new goals await and we are ready to meet them head on.