Month 5 in Poland - December 2025

Happy New Year everyone,

This is the monthly update from The Evjes on their Polish Sabbatical adventure. This month it's my (Tyler's) turn to take the pen. I am in the unenviable position of having to follow up six-year-old Alex's incredible banger of an update last month. Go check it out if you haven't already.

I apologize for the later than usual release. The holidays were a busy time here and then we all got the flu. We feel like we've done nothing but make soup and put the tea kettle on for over a week now. I now know how to say "phlegm expectorant" in Polish ("wykrztuśny na flegmę" in case you were wondering). Try saying that ten times fast (or even once).

Our December was filled with lots of activities! Some highlights:
  • A five-day ski trip in the Italian alps with the whole family plus Monika's brother's family. Drove all the way there and back (12 hours one way!) with three kids in a 9-passenger van. Thank god for ipads. We stayed in a ski-in, ski-out hotel in San Vigilio di Marebbe in the Kronplatz/Plan de Corones ski region. The skiing was excellent, the views incredible (see photos attached). Kids and adults skied three days in a row basically from sunup to sundown. Our accommodations included two home cooked Italian meals every day which was my favorite part of the trip. The food was incredible.
  • Christmas! Somewhat different than in the States, in Poland the big celebration and family gathering is on Christmas Eve. The dinner celebration is called Wigilia and traditionally consists of twelve meat-less dishes (fish ok), one for each of the twelve apostles. We ate and drank a lot, opened a lot of gifts, saw A LOT of Legos boxes, and had a great time. The day after, we all left town to go to Monika's brother's mountain cabin for several days where we assembled Legos, took walks, skiid, sled, and enjoyed the jacuzzi and sauna.
  • As many of you know, Monika's birthday falls between Christmas and New Year's. She and I skipped town for a quick parents-only birthday getaway to Warsaw. There we were fortunate enough to attend a concert by Grzegorz Turnau, one of Monika's favorite jazz pianists. We stayed at the Nobu Hotel which was gorgeous, and the jazz club was literally downstairs. 
  • For New Year's we were back at Monika's brother's cabin. Unlike in other years, Monika and I were able to actually stay up to midnight to ring in the new year. We did so from the outdoor jacuzzi, watching the valley below us erupt in fireworks at the stroke of 12. It was quite a sight: snow everywhere, the air cold to the bone, but all of sitting in the jacuzzi warm and toasty watching a multicolored panorama of glowing mountains, trees, and fields. Something I won't ever forget.
  • We also managed to take a couple of day trips to Slovakia where they have thermal bath resorts in the Tatras mountains. We enjoyed wave pools, water slides, massive indoor jacuzzies, and other fun indoor water activities to escape the cold.
Other than that the infamously cold Polish winter has arrived. Temperatures are in the single digits Fahrenheit here. We're spending lots of time indoors reading, playing with toys, playing Uno, cooking, and just surviving the last symptoms of the flu. Really excited for the kids to be going back to school!

We hope you and yours had a restful and joyous holiday break. Make it a great 2026 everyone!



















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