Christmas Eve

... or Heiligabend as it is known here in the German speaking part of Switzerland. Funny how when you are away from home and out of your normal routine you forget the date...Christmas Eve has arrived and almost taken us by surprise. We went skiing again today, we want to take advantage of the very quiet slopes before the crowds arrive on the 27th. Adam stayed home to work, he has quite a bit of university work set for this holiday :(

Yesterday was 4C on top of the mountain and today was -4C and I could feel that difference of 8 degrees. However, the snow remained in better condition all day with those colder temperatures. This photo was actually taken by Gavin, and I was quite impressed with it as he usually takes terrible photos! He went off to do a run on the other side of the mountain that is very icy at the moment, while I stayed on the 'warmer side' and did some runs on my own. 

We came down by 2pm and went off to the supermarket to get some last minute things for our Christmas dinner. I have brought out a turkey crown and stuffed roll of lamb (from Waitrose) with us, as I knew that I would not be able to get that here in the village. Luke insisted on having cranberry sauce and that was almost impossible to find but we found a jar in the supermarket (no fresh cranberries here to make my own sauce). He is such a traditionalist, and loves a proper english Christmas, but I drew the line at bread sauce (too much of a faff when on holiday!)

We are having Christmas Eve at home, with some champagne and smoked salmon and other treats, and we will not ski tomorrow as we will be cooking our Christmas lunch. We are also going to an English carol service tomorrow night which is very generously held in the German church for all the English visitors.