I’ve got snow in my pocket

So Christmas has come & gone & 2011 is almost over. This was my second Christmas away from England & although I missed my family an awful lot it was still a happy, fun (& turkey) filled day. I had been at work Christmas Eve so I felt I deserved the couple of glasses of wine I had once I was home. Christmas morning soon arrived & before long we were opening gifts & talking with our families on Skype (Oh Skype, how I love you!). I had my Christmas day chocolate breakfast, (this year it was an entire chocolate orange) & before long we were tucking in to our roast dinner. In the evening we had a few glasses of wine & played some games. I went to bed as early as I possibly could to get a good nights sleep in preparation for what waited for me the following morning…

It was 4.30am when my alarm woke me up & it was 5.15am when I left the house to get to the mall. I would like to point out that I was off to the mall to work, not to shop! As tired as I was it was such a fun shift at work, from 9.30am onwards the customers arrived non-stop until I left at 2.30pm. Once I was home I only had to time to eat some lunch, pack an overnight bag & we were off up to Big White Ski Resort for the night. We had a great evening staying with friends in their condo, but I was so tired I ended up falling asleep on the floor in the middle of a dramatic (!) game of Trivial Pursuit.

James getting ready for the first run of the day

We were woken up on the morning of the 27th by Belle, who had come with us to the condo, barking at some skiers she could see out the window. After a delicious cooked breakfast we hit the slopes.

Me all ready to ski!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There had been 6cm of snow overnight & it was still falling, so there was a lot of fresh powder. This resulted in me continually doing the splits as my skis went either side of piles of powder & I eventually ended up doing the inevitable & crashing quite spectacularly, filling my coat pockets with snow as I did!

 

James boarding through the mist

We were heading back up the mountain on one of the chair lifts when the mist fell, this made the run down the slope much more interesting! By the time we made it back to the lift I realised my hair & hat had frozen!

My frozen hat & hair!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our day up the mountain I headed off to work for a couple of hours. Luckily I start late today so I finally managed to catch up on some much needed sleep!!

Get ready for Big White!

The last couple of weeks have been crammed full of hours at work as Christmas creeps ever closer & the store gets busier and busier! It’s been fun though & it feels great to be helping people with their Christmas shopping (even though I haven’t managed to begin mine yet!).

Last week brought James’s 24th birthday, which was a great day! I had booked the day off work so I could decorate the house, bake him some birthday cupcakes & cookies & prepare a birthday tea! We had a lovely evening & James was very grateful for his presents (including snowboarding boots & bindings!).

James sets off on his board

It was a good job James recieved his boarding essentials as on Sunday we headed up to Big White Ski Resort! We picked up our season passes & we were off! I haven’t skiied for 2 years & James has barely any experience on a board, so we were both quite nervous! It all came back to me after the initial tenative first run (besides falling over while being stood still – don’t ask how!) & James did brilliantly with his boarding (with a little tuition from his sister – a great boarder).

I'm not entirely sure how I got myself into this mess!

 

 

We managed a few runs before the cloud set in & the breeze picked up, making it feel a lot colder than it was, so we headed back home as the sun began to set over the mountains. It still feels crazy that this is going to be a weekly activity for the next 5 months, & I can’t believe how lucky I am to have such a fantastic adventure playground on my doorstep!

All wrapped up & ready to ski!