The holidays are one of my favorite times of year because I get to go to Germany and see all of my family, most of which I see once a year at most. This holiday I was lucky enough to see everyone person in my family and even some of my friends. Especially this year, seeing family was more important than ever. I was fortunate to be able to see my grandfather twice before he unexpectedly passed away. Even when he was ill, he kept on smiling and making jokes as he always did. He lived a long, full, and happy life and I now know he is pain free now. As hard it is to say goodbye to someone you love, but I am going to cherish all of the good memories I have with him and celebrate his life. On the positive side, the rest of my family is happy and healthy and keeps on growing with more kids being added on. I got to spend a quality 2 weeks with family enjoy my favorite holiday activities, shown in photos below. This year there was more snow during the holidays than there has been in a long time! I went on some epic adventure skis with my family from Germany into the Czech Republic and I also got in some good training sessions on the man made loop on the race course.

Yup, that is me falling on face hard...who is the real skier here??   I am now at U.S. Nationals in Utah. I will post a blog shortly recapping the week of racing out here! -JKern