A tribute to Christmas Vacation Dad

[highpeaksdrifter]

What follows is based from observations I have made so far on Christmas week when the kids are off from school and Mom and Dad have decided to take some vacation time.

We have all seen this fine gentleman.

1) He is usually a professional person in his mid to late 30’s.

2) Pulls up in a mini-van of SUV with his young family.

3) Gets to the mountain between 9:30-10:00 because the family can’t get it together any earlier.

4) He always gets a bad parking spot because of the time.

5) His wife is in a bitchy mood cause she really doesn’t want to be there.

6) One kid is whining, one is acting up, and one needs constant direction.

7) Our hero (and he is one) now starts to unload the vehicle. Examples: 10-year-old equipment, cloths for everyone, maybe a cooler, various bags, and the rest of the family is of no real help.

8) Through the parking lot the group goes headed for the next part of their adventure.

9) Now they must find a spot in a crowded lodge to keep their stuff. Sometimes Dad’s Mom or Mom In Law will come along to hold a table and orchestrate the kid’s day from this command post.

10) If they don’t have equipment it’s time to stand in line to rent. If skiing where the after life then renting gear with kids on a crowded day would be Hell.

11) Then it’s time to get lift tickets, another line.

12) Put the kids in lessons and get them there? Yet more lines and time consumed.

13) No matter the variables like lessons, rentals, ticket packages, food and drink this guy is laying out serious $ for this one day family excursion.

Just to watch this ordeal unfold is exhausting; to go throw it is beyond my comprehension. I ask myself, how in the name of God can this be fun for this guy? Why is he volunteering to put himself through this for is unappreciative family? Then it hits me and this guy becomes my hero.

Back before kids, when his wife was his girlfriend this guy was a skier and this is the only way he can come close in this stage of his life. Maybe after he takes care of the needs and wants of his family he might actually get to take a run or two for himself and briefly feel the exhilaration he once did in days gone by.

He’d like to get out more now, but his wife lives by the motto, “I work all week too, why do I have to get everything done on the weekends and take care of the kids by myself while you’re out with your friends having fun skiing, bitch, bitch, bitch, blah, blah, blah.” So Christmas Vacation Dad’s weekends revolve around doing chores around the house and transporting the kids to their activities.

Whenever I see this guy I try to help him out in some small way. Pick up something he dropped, point him in the right direction, hold the door, help him carry and rack his gear, anything I can.

Christmas Vacation Dad suffers for the sport he loves and richly deserves our respect. I salute and admire his resolve.

 

[trackbiker]

The payoff comes about 10 years later when his 12 year old son (or daughter) says "are you ready to go Dad?" after just a 15 minute break for lunch after skiing for 4 hours non stop.
When they say "do want to race to the bottom" because they think they can finally beat you.
When they remember their first time skiing.
When Dad has to let go because they want to ski with their friends.
When you don't go on the school ski trip because you want them to ski with their friends and want them to become independant.
When they want their friends to meet their dad because he still takes a jump now and then.
When they come home from college and ask, "When are we going to go skiing?"
When they look at those old videos and remember only the good times from those trips.

 

[Sparky]

Well said. Here's to those Dads. :beer:

 

[ctenidae]

Here's to you, Christmas Vacation Dad!
May your kids grow up and carry the cooler for you,
May the Parking Gods shine on you once in a while and get you close to the lodge,
May your wife someday give you a season pass and the license to use it.
Most of all, may God have mercy on your soul.

:beer:

 

[smootharc]

Very nice....

post and responses.

I am sometimes that guy, less the wife who is Grinchly & miserable.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

thanks for the view of my life, you are spot on..only exception is that my wife is the first one up, first one in the car and the first one on the lifts (yes, most of the time forgetting to deal with the little ones!!) Its just a different phase of life and skiing, I grew up solo skiing, skiing with buddies, putting together last minute trips out west, skiing with girlfriends..now its family skiing, solo skiing is still there, just not as often. My wife and I are great at letting each other take weekends away with my buddies or she with her for ski weekends. Skiing with the fam is great, the rewards of seeing a 2.5 yr old YAAAHHHHOOOOOOing down the slopes is unforgetable.

 

[shenty]

This sounds like a Bud Light ad...

"Here's to you, Dedicated skier dad" :beer:

I guess I've been pretty lucky. Found (and married) a skier, had two kids who learned the ropes from age 3 (they always had something to carry), and we usually get to the mountain early.

Also the in-laws never, never have joined us at the mountain. :lol:

 

[RossiSkier]

Dude, nice! You've got my wife down but I wouldn't call her the "B" word. She's a great mother and spends a lot of time with the kids, stuck inside all week.

Julie Ward Howe woke up in the middle of the night and wrote the Battle Hymm of the Republic. Did that just come to you?

 

[teachski]

From the woman's perspective:

I work all week and then come home to work more.

Dinner is expected on the table at a certain time each night.

I have to do the laundry on the weekend because I get home at 5:30 each night, make dinner, get the kids bathed and in bed and have to answer to "his" demands until bed.

No one picks up after themself, that's my job, I'm the mother.

"Johnny and Susie" need rides to practices and club meetings, dad is watching the news so I have to take them. He's fallen asleep in the recliner, I have to pick them up.

God, I wish that I could get a new skis or boots, these are the same ones I had in High School 15+ years ago, but the kids need stuff...besides, he tells me...you only ski once or twice a year. MAYBE if I had nice shaped skis and new boots like him I'd ski more.

I wanted to get family passes to the local mountain, but he wanted a new snowblower (his is 5 years old and used a handful of times). He said we can make that 3 hour drive to "XYZ" Mountain a few times this winter. He's in a corporate race club and goes once a week anyway and the kids go with the school once a week too. WHAT ABOUT ME?????

I had to get up at 4 am to make lunch and pack it in that stupid cooler.

I had to get all the kids up and ready to go.

I had to sit in the back seat with the kids on the way here so his "mommy" could come. He says it's to watch the kids, but she tells them..."Ask your mother" anyway and sends the to wait by the lift for me.

I'd like to go to that local place so we didn't have to pack for a week (for one day), that way we could turn the kids loose and we could ski, I mean, I could ski too.

Hey, I may not make a million dollars a year either, but my money helps to pay for these trips too.

Sure, you go to get the rentals for the kids and stand in a couple lines, but I have to deal with YOUR MOTHER! No, this tables, too drafty. No, this one is too close to the trash. Gee, it's cold here, let's try that one. Oh, now I can't look out the windows... I'll gladly trade!

Come on guys! Be fair!

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

Dude, nice! You've got my wife down but I wouldn't call her the "B" word. She's a great mother and spends a lot of time with the kids, stuck inside all week.

Julie Ward Howe woke up in the middle of the night and wrote the Battle Hymm of the Republic. Did that just come to you?

Thanks Rossi. Christmas Vacation Dad is kind of a composite of Dads I’ve seen in similar situations over the years. On my way home from Whiteface yesterday I started to think about this Dad I had helped out a little the day before. He was a real good guy and his family didn’t seem to appreciate everything he was doing. You know he was going through all this for love of skiing and to pass it on to his family who he loves.

There are a lot of parents in this boat and I just think it’s really cool what they are trying to do and in my small way I wanted to give them a little credit that they don’t seem to be getting from their families.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

From the woman's perspective:

Come on guys! Be fair!

See what I mean bitch, bitch, bitch, blah, blah, blah.

No only kidding. You are aboslutely right it can work both ways. It's the moms and dads that can carry the weight together that make for a real happy ski family.

 

[haines]

Vacation Dad

What's the motivation?

Vacation Dad's motivation is ?

Why does he do it?

 

[smootharc]

Re: Motivation

What's the motivation? Vacation Dad's motivation is ? Why does he do it?

In my case it's when the little one's are tucked in for the night and Vacation Mom saunters over with a cup of hot chocolate, wearing the leopard print flees jambies I got her a few years ago, and we put in the "Blizzard of Aaahh's" DVD as we pull the fleece blanket over us.....

That's when you realize the juice is worth the squeeze.... :wink:

Oh, and I also push the remote start on the direct vent fireplace with the cheezy fake logs in it.....

 

[billski]

Re: Vacation Dad

What's the motivation?

Vacation Dad's motivation is ?

Why does he do it?

In my case, I call it "return on investment"
- give them a lifelong skill that they can enjoy, a sport that only a minority of the population will ever imbibe in.
- Give them an appreciation for the outdoors, mountains in the winter
- To engage them in a sport I love dearly (and secretly hope they will become my ski buddies in a some years)
- Because NO ONE ELSE would even consider putting up with all that @#$.
- Because it gets me on a hill, any hill, rather than stuck at home watching Barney videos and listening to them moan that there is "nothing to do"

 

[Marc]

Re: Vacation Dad

What's the motivation?

Vacation Dad's motivation is ?

Why does he do it?

...because he was contraceptively challenged and now wishes to avoid divorce court, alimony and child support?




I wake up every day and think how lucky I am to be without those screaming snot and waste machines.

 

[smootharc]

You again ! Ummm... "Contraceptively Challenged" ??

...because he was contraceptively challenged and now wishes to avoid divorce court, alimony and child support?

Is a misnomer. The correct phrase is "Successful Alpha-Fertility Species Advancement dude who took hottie ski chick off the market forever", and remember, good sir, that Darwin stipulates my snot and waste making progeny units will be spreading forth and populating the world, leaving less and less room for the you's of the planet. A bunch of first-tracks grabbing demons are on their way to your favorite stashes. Scared yet ?

:dunce: :lol:

 

[billski]

Re: Vacation Dad

What's the motivation?

Vacation Dad's motivation is ?

Why does he do it?

...because he was contraceptively challenged and now wishes to avoid divorce court, alimony and child support?




I wake up every day and think how lucky I am to be without those screaming snot and waste machines.

Boo, hiss! you give forums like this a bad rap...

 

[KingM]

I'm one of those dads, although my kids get to ski every Friday with the school and I live two miles from one resort and about six from another. As for the dad thing, yeah, you give up a lot when you decide to be a parent but I wouldn't trade it for anything. No amount of money, freedom, lazy mornings in bed, etc., would entice me to trade away a single hug and "I love you, Dad," from one of my children.

But to each his own.

 

[YardSaleDad]

would entice me to trade away a single hug and "I love you, Dad," from one of my children.

I'm gonna guess that they are not teenagers yet

I still second the sentiment.

 

[Marc]

Re: Vacation Dad

What's the motivation?

Vacation Dad's motivation is ?

Why does he do it?

...because he was contraceptively challenged and now wishes to avoid divorce court, alimony and child support?




I wake up every day and think how lucky I am to be without those screaming snot and waste machines.

Boo, hiss! you give forums like this a bad rap...

Why?

1) Because I don't subscribe to society and nature forcing me towards a life I don't want or

2) Because you don't appreciate deeply cynical and sarcastic humor?

:beer: