And last but not least a half day spent on top of Hornboden alp, 1850m high up and we got to the peak by cable car. It was a beautiful and sunny New Year’s eve day and the view up there was just amazing.

Both grandmothers!

Beautiful view but I won’t dare to ski here.

Nora wanted to join her sister and YeYe for a sled ride. “Hellooooooo… can you both please come and get me?”

Three together!

In the cable car

Another highlight in our vacation was an adventurous evening which all I knew about was that we were going to have fondue chinoise, also known as Chinese hot pot, for dinner at a hut. The surprise began at 7pm when we gathered together in front of the hotel, which YeYe, MiMi and Tante Ann stayed in, along with other hotel guests who signed up for this special evening. The hut owner showed up and gave each of us a tiny glass of schnapps and told us to drink up for the preparation to the torch light hike to the Schafalm. He also gave everyone a long white candle and we would use it as a guiding light.

Can you see that tiny lit up Christmas tree at the back? That was where we started!

It turned out we had to walk up on a hill. Man, it was tough. It was snowing hard that evening and the hill was already covered with thick snow. It was very hard to walk… uphill. On top of that, Tante Ann and I took turns to carry Nora, who I believe weighs about 15kg now. I was sweating hard under my winter hat and jacket. After walking uphill for like twenty minutes or longer, we reached to a landing which followed by a short trail that led us to a cosy-looking hut. The hut owner offered us another glass of schnapps, which I didn’t drink, and led us into the hut for our long-awaited fondue chinoise dinner.

Ah, the hike was worth it! I have never tried the western style Chinese hot pot but it was very good. A lot simpler than our Chinese style and the eating pace is much slower. Instead of dumping lots of meat and veggies together into a pot of boiling soup at a time, here we poked a piece of meat cube with a long fork and put it in the hot broth and waited. It could be five minutes long and that piece of meat cube was still not totally cooked through, that was how slow it got. However it allowed us to enjoy the conversation, eat the salads, sips of wine and had fun with both girls, who were so cooperating the whole time even though it was way pass their bed time. Bravo!

When we came back to our rented apartment after we attended a church service for children on Christmas Eve, MiMi and Tante Ann have decorated the Christmas tree beautifully and placed all the presents under the tree. Vera’s eyes were so big when she saw all that and couldn’t wait to open her presents and she offered to help us opening our presents as well. The children received so many wonderful toys and their favourites were the Doctor Briefcase, the mini baby stroller and the cool iPig. YeYe lost his glasses at the hotel and had to wear his sunglasses for reading. Poor him but the children found it so funny and kept giggling while YeYe was playing the flute in his sunglasses. Thank goodness the hotel staff found his glasses again but I am sure the children would like to see their YeYe in sunglasses again. When the gift giving session was over, our apartment looked as if there was an explosion. Ribbons, gift wrapping papers, small and big boxes, toys, books, CDs, etc were strewn across the living room floor. It was a fun evening.