New Years’ Memories (2025)

By, John M. Goralka
Sacramento, CA

For most years with my kids, New Year’s was spent at the resort at Squaw Creek. We would spend Christmas day with my extended family- parents, brothers, sisters, spouses, girlfriends, and cousins. Then we would head to Tahoe to stay at the Resort at Squaw Creek (now known as the Everline Resort) through January 2nd.

When my kids were very young, I wanted to start a tradition for New Years. I considered many locations that first year, but settled on Tahoe because this was so close and the location appeared to be very special on its website. In those days, they had a formal (tuxedo required) event for New Year’s Eve. Before deciding, I called ahead to be sure that this location was family friendly. I did not want to worry about kids spilling something or otherwise bothering someone in a formal outfit. They assured me that my kids would not be a problem.

The first year I got a late start with the drive. We spun out while on highway 50 going over the summit after dark. We were driving slowly in a 4x4 truck with snow tires. We saw the four cars ahead of us spin out so I was ready as I approached. Black is real! Even still, we spun out slowly on the black ice into a snow drift. Thankfully no injuries. To this day, I do not cross over the mountain after dark. We then proceeded on. As we approached the resort, all of the large trees were lit up like Christmas trees. Truly magical.

The first few years, we went and played in the snow, building snowmen and sliding down inclines on our disks and sleds. We would sit by the fire and enjoy s'mores. My kids took snowboarding lessons (because only old people ski) in a children’s facility at the resort. That actually gave me an opportunity to ski a half-day by myself. Traveling solo with two young kids creates a need for a little solo time to decompress.

Soon, my kids became solid intermediate snowboarders. We would usually get five days in Tahoe with time to ski and snowboard. Usually, we would have a least one day where the mountain was closed due to a storm with high winds. These were some of my favorite days. We would stay in our pajamas in our room, get room service and play board games. We were introduced to the show “Monk” on one such trip. Monk was a TV show about a murder detective with obsessive disorder including his fear of germs, heights and contamination. We watched an eight hour marathon of that show while also playing board games.

Another year we went and there was no snow. The resort assembled an inflatable Olympics course with slides and event stations. For example, one station had two lanes side by side. You are strapped into a harness carrying a baton. The farther you ran the more resistance there was on the harness. The goal was to get the baton to the farthest spot before the harness yanked you off your feet and pulled you back to the beginning. Great trip even without the snow!

As the kids got older, they became involved in competitive soccer. Holidays then always seemed to revolve around soccer tournaments. We often traveled to places like San Diego, Lake Oswego, Oregon, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Orlando, Florida. One tournament was in the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex where my son played international opponents. The complex is located within Disney World. The facility had a museum of sorts with pictures of many of the best known athletes as high school aged kids competing- Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Lewis Alcindor and Michael Jordan to name a few. Truly an amazing place to play. He played his first international games in that tournament.

That said, my favorite New Years memories are being with my kids at the Resort at Squaw Creek (now known as Everline Resort) skiing, snowboarding, or playing board games in the room with the wind and snow howling outside. We were together as a family and the only agenda was to enjoy our time together.

I hope you enjoy my New Years' photos here.

John Goralka is the lead attorney and founder of the Goralka Law Firm, P.C., and is an experienced Sacramento estate planning and tax planning lawyer. For help in Sacramento with estate planning, business planning or tax planning, please contact our office.