Swiss Winter

We had an incredible second winter in Switzerland! Daniel had a great off season, resting and then training hard for the summer and I worked hard on my skiing, completing my first red AND black slopes! I also won a friendly staff slalom race :)

We spent our first Christmas in Switzerland and we had great fun decorating the house when Daniel's parents visited. We had a real tree and blue and silver themed decorations. Here are a sample of photos of our activities over the winter:

Beautiful winter sunset over the Jura mountains

Amazing spa retreat in Adelboden in the Bernese Oberland

Lucky birthday girl!

No leaves on the trees or vines but our village is still beautiful :)

Montreau Christmas Market

Montreau Christmas Market

Homemade Christmas decorations

Christmas wreaths on the doors in our village #1

Christmas wreaths on the doors in our village #1

Our first Swiss Christmas. Cheers!

The Dent du Midi - I spent most of slope time here this winter

Champoussin with the Dents du Midi in the background

Loads of snow in our courtyard!

Daniel training in the snow. Check out his video!

Daniel's running route in Autumn and Winter

The Arboretum covered in snow

Jane and me in Saanen

Skiing in Leysin

A Real Christmas Tree

Our lifelong dream of getting a real tree for Christmas was finally achieved this year. We scoured the Anchorage bowl for Christmas tree sellers with just four days to spare, and we eventually found a beautiful spruce, so realistic that it actually looked like a fake! We had a grand time getting it home and decorated for the big day.

Snow Angel!

We had a long list of things to achieve in Alaska, and Vanessa finally ticked off the snow angel. Although she emerged with snow in her gloves and boots, the final product was enchanting. Did she come down from heaven...?

A White Christmas

The Christmas spirit in Alaska is tremendous. We've been on a couple of 'hot chocolate drives' through the suburbs, viewing the brilliant Christmas lights and decorations outside the houses. The winner is definitely the house with six blow-up, glowing-from-the-inside snowmen in the garden! We haven't seen the 16-foot snowman yet, but apparently he appears on Christmas Eve every year.

We spent Christmas Eve skiing, and then had Christmas dinner at the Henrys' house. We were spoilt with delicious food, wine and presents, and we are now thoroughly infused with the American Christmas spirit!

Merry Christmas to all our friends all over the world! We hope you aren't too jealous of our white Christmas...