The four of us spent a quiet Christmas at home. The kids never got out of their pajamas. I was able to read two whole books I received as presents. Peter roasted a turkey, and I made roasted potatoes and made other side dishes, so we had a proper Christmas dinner, with Christmas crackers (but no pudding!)
On January 2, we drove up to the Sierras. We missed skiing the last couple years so we spent nine days at Tahoe, where about seven feet of snow fell over the course of a few days. We were visiting friends at their beautiful second home in the mountains, but they left on the second day as a storm approached. It was lovely sitting inside and watching the falling, drifting, wind-blown snow through the large windows, cozy by a warm fire. It was even fun shoveling and blowing all that snow off the decks.
With all the fresh powder, the skiing was excellent. Katya decided to try boarding this year, and she caught on pretty quickly. Able to master any sport quickly, Peter also boarded one day, and, at her insistence, he took her to a black diamond run. Once at the top, she admitted to feeling a bit uneasy, but she made it down conservatively, laughing at Peter falling as he actually tried to carve some turns on his board.
One big of advantage of home schooling is being able to take vacation when others are in school and at work. The resorts are a lot less crowded; there are no lift lines. We signed the kids up for group lessons a couple days, but, since no other kids were around on the weekdays, they actually received private lessons. We skied and boarded on five days; Peter added one extra to his adventure in the winter wonderland, skiing with our friend Kirby when it was too cold and blustery for the kids. When we weren't at the resorts or keeping warm inside, we were out sledding or having snowball fights. 
Home schooling is going well. I try to use a lot of materials from the library and the web for school when we are home. On the boat, I have to rely on whatever books I have taken with me, and the World Almanac replaces Wikipedia. It's an adjustment either way. We have information overload here. On the boat, we learn to get by with whatever resources we have with us.Another glaring difference is in the availability of consumer goods. It's almost impossible to go to any grocery store in the Caribbean and obtain everything on my list. There are always things, such as mushrooms, which just aren't stocked or are only available on a limited basis. In smaller places, it makes a big difference whether the timing of my grocery shopping coincides with the arrival of the weekly mail boat, which also brings all the food and goods not produced on the island (in other words, almost everything). If it's been a few days since the boat arrived, many items are in short supply or just not there. However, I don't miss at all the enormous amounts of stuff available here, so much of which seems extraneous and a waste of resources. Every time we come back from the boat, I am still amazed at all the unnecessary stuff people seem to believe they need.
So, we will be off to a simpler life again, missing friends, libraries, bookstores, fresh cold milk and ice and being frustrated by the weather sometimes. But we plan to enjoy ourselves! Life is good.
