Falling into a New Family

Thanksgiving and Christmas are my two favorite holidays.  I mean what’s not to love about Thanksgiving??  It’s a holiday that celebrates food, football, and family!  Christmas is a no-brainer; I love everything about that time of year.   The year I lived in Italy I didn’t come back to the states at all.  So the month from Turkey Day to Baby Jesus’ birthday I was pretty homesick.

During a break in class, a bunch of us were hanging out in the school cafeteria and I mentioned that I didn’t know how I was going to handle a Christmas without family OR snow.  Then out of nowhere one of the girls at the table, Ashley, said that her whole family was flying out to Germany for the holiday; I could tag along if I wanted to (very dangerous thing to say to me…I almost NEVER say no to an opportunity to travel!).  Ashley just offered me everything on my Xmas list…family and snow…of course I said yes!

It’s important to understand my relationship with Ashley at this point.  We had been going to school together for over three months but we hadn’t ever really hung out.  We had done a lot of group things together, but never connected just the two of us.  Which made it even nicer that she offered to include me in her family holiday…and even weirder that I accepted.

Upon hearing that I was joining the festivities, Ashley’s younger sister, Alex, was livid…and rightfully so.  She didn’t understand why Ashley was bringing some girl to Christmas; a girl that Ashley had never once mentioned in any of her stories.  Before I even arrived I was “the random girl who ruined their only time together all year”.  Oh and I should also mention that Ashley and I flew to Germany separately.  Of course she had major delays so I took a cab by myself to the hotel to meet the family for the first time.  And as luck would have it, my arrival forced Alex to wake up from her nap.  I was off to a great start.

So now that we’ve established that I hardly know Ashley, her sister hates me, and we’re all together in the little town of Garmisch, Germany, lets fast-forward to Christmas Day.

Ashley, Alex and I spent all of Christmas Day skiing.  We got back to the hotel around 4:00pm.  Since we were exhausted and we didn’t have to meet for dinner until 7:15, we all decided to take naps.  Ashley set her alarm for 6:00.  She took the longest to get ready, so after she showered she was going to wake the two of us up.  Before she knew it, Ashley checked her watch and it was 7:00pm; Alex and I were still fast asleep.  Frantically Ashley woke us up.  We decided there was no avoiding showering, we couldn’t possibly show up to Christmas dinner covered in sleep and ski funk; we had to act fast. 

(Alex, me, Ashley...top O the mountain)

Our masterminds devised a plan.  Alex had three minutes to shower.  During those three minutes I was to get both our outfits laid out and get myself ready to jump in one side of the shower as she jumped out the other (the shower was one of those bathtub showers with two sliding doors, so it was perfect for creating an entrance and an exit).  With time running out, Ashley started yelling at me to get ready.  I quickly stripped down, anxiously awaiting my cue.

Alex started yelling, “GET READY! GET READY!”  Ashley was cheering us on, “GO! GO! GO!”, I joined the party, “I’M READY! LETS GO!”  With all the excitement and yelling I think I was a little too eager to jump.  When it was go time, I hopped in with my left foot.  Since I had just woken up 4 minutes prior I hadn’t yet put my contacts in, so I failed to notice that the back of the tub (right where I planted my left foot) was slanted.  So as I went to bring my right foot in…BAM!! The laws of physics took over and I slammed down on to the side of the tub…the side with the metal track for the door...right down the middle of me…bare a$$ naked!!  I frantically tried to lift myself up but the stupid tub was so wet and slippery that I just kept flopping around…straddling the bathtub…still naked.  Alex and Ashley just stood there perplexed…staring at my bare bum.

“Do we touch her??” Alex asked.  One hardly knew me, one hated me…which one should help?  Eventually I calmed down enough to figure out how to pick myself up and properly get in the shower.  At this point I’m pretty sure the girls still hadn’t moved.

“Are you okay??” 
Nothing game out of my mouth for the next hour except uncontrollable, embarrassed laughter.  Realizing I wasn’t really hurt, Ashley and Alex felt comfortable enough to laugh at me as well.

After that my relationship with the Webers changed forever.  To this day Ashley is one of my very best friends and Alex like my little sister.  We went from strangers to family in one quick instant.  We’ve even spent other Christmases together since then…but I kept my clothes on for those.