We got some amazing skiing done in Zermatt, skiing around the Matterhorn was legendary! Between Christmas and New Years, we tried day trips, and 2/4 trips were fails- when we arrived at the lifts, they were closed or closing due to winds and storms up in the mountains. Such is the life in the Mountains, I guess. Now we know not to pre-buy our lift tickets! Lesson learned!!!
Christmas was different, but I think both girls breathed a sigh of relief and it was better than they "feared".
We are all missing the Alpine friends and shenanigans, and seeing the photos by all the girls is both wonderful (to feel that we know what's going on) and also a reminder that Alpine skiing is so much more than just the ski runs. The girls have just left for school - starting back after 3 weeks' holidays is a bit hard, but what a wonderful 3 weeks we have had!!
Christmas Eve: Justin worked late - it was hard for him coming back after the week of holidays, and he ended up much later than he had planned. But we took care of things at home. Sarah prepared her cinnamon buns for Christmas morning, Shannon did some last minute shopping, I grabbed the last of the groceries before the stores closed for days. We cooked up our most expensive (but also most delicious) Turkey - from France, actually. The girls really wanted a traditional Christmas Feast, so we had Turkey, stuffing, potatoes au gratin, a delicious gravy and carrots and cranberry sauce!!! It was fantastic! After, we went to Aegeri and walked the "Lichtenweg", almost 3 km of pathway lit by candles. It was beautiful! We opened the traditional one gift - surprise, it was pj's!
Christmas Day: We rose early, in typical Nesbitt fashion....I was up at 5:30 reading, for some strange reason. Sarah was up closer to 6, and Shannon was up before 6:30. We had a quiet morning opening presents and really savouring the process. It was beautifully calm, and thoughtful!!
Breakfast was grapefruits and cinnamon buns and my oh my, the cinnamon buns were the BEST EVER!!! We used the "imported" brown sugar that our friend Katie and Svein brought back for us from the US, and Sarah's expert kneading made the buns the best we've ever had!
We left mid afternoon to head to Stafa to Brad and Lisa's for Christmas Day Raclette dinner. As usual, we laughed and laughed spending the afternoon and evening with them. We are so lucky to have such good friends who live in Switzerland!
Boxing Day: We headed out bright and early to ski on Boxing Day - off to Laax. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was super foggy, snowy and the lifts up top were being closed due to winds. So, we enjoyed a hot chocolate/coffee and then turned around and drove back to Baar. We went to Shannon's barn and after she rode, we headed off on a hike. It was a beautiful day even though we didn't do what we set out to do. Being together was full of laughter (and some complaining about the hike) and that made my heart full.
New Years Eve: We started the evening with drinks, appetizers and Sticky Weenies with our friends from upstairs. Peter, Nathalie and Livia came down for some drinks. Later, Justin and I went to a party at Katie and Svein's place. We met some really amazing people from Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden. The food was DIVINE and it was a really great evening, but we cut it short there to go back to Shannon and Sarah to ring in the New Year.
Inspired by our friends upstairs, we made pizzas on the raclette machine! It takes a while, so it was a good way to pass the evening. I didn't know if I could stay up late enough, but we all made it! We went upstairs and enjoyed ringing in the new year with our Swiss friends on their beautiful balcony and watching the fireworks going off everywhere. All that reserved Swiss-ness is let loose on New Years, apparently, and the fireworks lasted well past 1am. They were set off in fields, and in people's back yards and we could see them in every direction we looked. It was magical!!
New Years Day: We set off again to go skiing - this time to Davos for an overnighter. Murphy was going to be adored by our friends and he definitely enjoyed his two day "holiday" with them! We skied on the 1st but we were pretty tired and had a short day of skiing, The conditions were very much like Ontario - icy and packed with people. We were looking forward to the 2nd when there would be fresh powder falling all night long. After skiing, we went over to Klosters (nearby) and enjoyed a cheese fondue dinner with Daria and Scott, who used to live in Canada and Daria used to work at Vic Star years and years ago. It was lovely to visit with them and enjoy the cheese!!
January 2nd: We were up early and actually had to wait for the breakfast to come out at the hotel. Then, we headed to the ski lifts, got an amazing parking spot and were ready for the powder....except that the lifts were not opening because the winds were too high and the mountain storms were still coming. Bummer....Well, after a coffee and treat, we started the trek back to Baar and enjoyed a quiet day.
We are all missing the Alpine friends and shenanigans, and seeing the photos by all the girls is both wonderful (to feel that we know what's going on) and also a reminder that Alpine skiing is so much more than just the ski runs. The girls have just left for school - starting back after 3 weeks' holidays is a bit hard, but what a wonderful 3 weeks we have had!!
Now I am off to buy my German textbook because I am determined to start some in class german lessons this month! Enough of muddling through on my computer, it's time to get some help with pronunciation so I sound better....the girls laugh because they say I speak German with an Italian accent! Who knew!?
