catching up

I'm not really a maker of new year's resolutions, but if I were, I would resolve to be a more active blogger. 

However, I'm only allowing myself to feel gentle guilt as the last month has been busy - festive, fun and truly memorable.  Some highlights.....

At the beginning of December, for the first time in 30 years, there was skating on Lauenensee (the Lauenen Lake).  What made this an unusual occurance was the combination of cold temperatures and a lack of snow.  For about one week the entire lake, surrounded by rolling hills and dramatic mountain peaks became an enormous and natural skating rink.  Locals, transplants and what few tourists were left flocked to the lake.  During this time, we skated during the day while the kids were at school and again after school with the kids, often catching the last moments of daylight and watching the alpenglow along the ridges of the surrounding mountains.  The lake made disconcerting noises.  It belched and gurgled from deep below the frozen suface as the ice shifted with the change in temperatures throughout the day.   If you banged your skate against the ice, it felt solid, but sounded a little hollow.  It was very clear, you could see the bottom, bubbles were trapped in the ice.  I have never experienced anything like it. 

even this poor fish got trapped in the freeze

About a week before Christmas, it started to really snow and it hasn't stopped until this week.  We have been skiing, snowshoeing and building snow forts.  I honestly don't think I've ever seen so much snow.

the last week of school before the break

snowshoeing

Opening Day at the Saanen Eggli - first skiers on the lift 

We live near the bottom of the Saanen Eggli chairlift which opened for the season on Friday, the 23rd of December.  Given that we live within walking distance to this lift and that it is connected to a fabulous ski area called the Videmanette, this was a banner day for our family.  Jeff had us up at the crack of dawn and we were out there, waiting for the lift to open.  We were rewarded with the distinction of being the first "guests" of the season on the Saanen Eggli!

The skiing has been, to quote my kids, epic and sick.  We've had knee to thigh high powder most days due to huge amounts of snow, a surprisingly low volume of skiers and snowboarders and terrain that seems to go on and on.  Often, it's like we have the place to ourselves and can do the same runs over and over, making our own tracks each time.  It's insane!

We've been exploring all sorts of skiing - piste and off piste, jumps and bumps, glades and even barns... The boys, their friend Anastasia and I were on a beautiful south facing slope on the Videmanette.  It was all deep powder, the kind that you can just float through and it makes you feel like a rock star skier.   The kids set off before me, I did a few turns (like a rock star), looked up and just below me, the there they were, on top of a barn!  I am sure that the Swiss farmers do not appreciate skiers on top of their barns, even when there is so much snow that the barn has literally become part of the slope.  I can't remember the exact details, but seeing those kids on the barn and then jumping off the side, triggered a vague memory of a tv commercial years ago where a skier skied down a mountain and over a barn or restaurant, racing towards a cup of coffee maybe?  

barn skiing

out of the valley fog and into the sunshine at the Saanen Eggli

the top of the Saanen Eggli

Christmas festivities started with a school choir candlelight service and then a JFK concert where each class preformed songs and acted out the traditions of many of the students' home countries.  We went to a friend's property in Rougemont and cut our own christmas tree - probably against the rules, but driven by the romance of an alpine christmas .  Ryan and Ali sent us a "Canadian Christmas" package which included iconic tree ornaments like a polar bear, beer bottle, beaver and skidoo.  The kids make paper snowflakes and pipe cleaner angels.  Our Swiss tree was simple and beautiful and perfect.  

My mother, aka Jimpy, arrived on the 19th to spend a week with us.  It was great fun to have her here and to be able to share parts of our new life with someone from home.  She didn't catch the ski fever, but she always loves the Saanenland and particularly the part of European culture that gives a universal and warm welcome to dogs and smokers alike.  A school friend of the kids', Anastasia, also spent Christmas with us.  She is from Russia and despite having never celebrated Christmas before, she easily joined in our traditions and even Santa managed to figure it all out!

our local "charlie brown" christmas tree

Christmas Eve - Jimpy, Eli, Graydon, Esmée, Anastasia and Jeff

Christmas dinner was at the Mountain Lodge which houses Lovell International Camps, Bryce and Vickie's new business.  It was a wonderful collection of about 30 family, friends and Lovell Camps staff.

Bill Lovell orchestrated a magnificent dinner

I got to do the gravy, my fave!

On Boxing Day, we had to say goodbye to Jimpy.  Eli and I accompanied her to Geneva by train, making the 6 minute connection at Montreux with only minutes to spare.  Having to get over 4 tracks while dragging 2 large suitcases, a heavy carry-on and making sure that Jimpy got a quick smoke while she could was almost more than the three of us could handle.  Somehow we made it and after a tearful goodbye at the airport and we were off on our next adventure - four days of skiing in Chamonix....