The one advantage to having Christmas vacation start so late, is that the kids are all home for Heilige Drei Könige Tag, or Three Kings day. They can really enjoy being the king that way. No chores, and they get to choose whatever movie gets watched, or what game gets played. This year Nick had all the power.
I am pleased to report he was a magnanimous and benevolent ruler. 🙂
Not on the same day, but also during vacation, I took the younger kids ice skating in Zurich. It was Alexandra and Noah’s first time, and the older girls had only been once or twice before. It’s just not a high priority for us, I guess. But we did have a fun, albeit cold, time.
I had to go and get different skates after Sophie and Sarah couldn’t get theirs on, but there weren’t any other mishaps. No one lost a finger or cracked their head, which was a real concern, being alone with so many inexperienced skaters at once. And the good mood was most definitely helped along by the drinks and snacks I had thought to bring. 
The sunshine helped to make it not seem so cold, although all of us had frozen toes by the time we went home.
I rented a push chair with the idea that Alexandra and Noah could share it. But she kind of hogged it for most of the time, so Noah just skated by holding on to the side or my hand. He fell down a lot, but never got hurt and always had a smile on his face. I called his twirly falls “tricks” and he got a big kick out of that.
We took a welcome break to watch the Zamboni clean and smooth the ice. There is something so mesmerizing about watching that thing go around and around and around. 
It also broke our two hour stay neatly in half. I wanted to stay at least that long to feel like I got my money’s worth. 🙂 But wasn’t sure at the start, if the kid would be able to handle it. They did.
Sarah and Sophie did a good job of just plugging along on the outside edge of the ice. There were a couple large groups that they had to navigate around. There was even a birthday party playing games right in the middle, which looked fun, but was a definite traffic hazard. They didn’t give up, though, which made me very proud.
Close to the end, I had everyone take turns sitting on the chair as I pushed them around the rink a few times at maximum speed. I have learned that if the ending of any outing is positive, that is all they remember the next time you suggest doing the same thing. We were all smiles as we climbed in the car and headed home. Success!