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What have you learnt about skiing at christmas?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Try and find out what the local entertainment is on Christmas Eve (it is always Christmas Eve, never Christmas Day) and make sure you go and watch it. Some places have fireworks, Zell am See has a strange tree ritual around (and in) the lake and some places have a ski show (although to be fair a lot of places have these sorts of things every week, not just for Christmas).

We always try and have as low key lunch as possible (Orangina and chips one year!) and then either the hotel "gala dinner" or find a poulet roti from the supermarket. A number of the posher hotels I've been in for Christmas the proprietor says a few words before dinner and hands out a free glass of fizz. You might be obliged to sing a couple of carols (Silent Night is the favourite and last year, in Westendorf, it was sung simultaneously in German, French, English and, I think, Dutch).

Oh, and you can always go to church as well. Pretty much all ski resorts have a church and they will all do midnight mass of some sort, obviously in their local language. This is really popular with the locals and many I've been to have had standing room only.
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sanman, Smile
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Tiger2, Our village has most of its entertainment on Christmas Day, we normally have a late lunch, have the main course, then go to the village for the procession and Father Christmas's visit, when the kids get bags of goodies, then home for pud and cheese etc.
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I love spending Christmas in Austria, especially in a small resort. I can avoid the shopping frenzy & bad humor back home. Exchange token presents on Christmas Eve. Most of the village turns out for midnight mass complete with a rendition of "Stille Nacht". . Christmas day skiing as usual. Love it. The partying is done at New Year.
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We spent last Christmas in a small hotel in Lech, where all the other guests were either German or Austrian. Nearly all the guests had being doing Christmas there for years and knew each other very well. During the Christmas Eve dinner there were two readings - guests getting up and reading a short story/passage on the meaning of Christmas. Just as this was about to start a German man appeared at our table and sat himself down. He'd been volunteered by the other guests/staff to be our translator. He spoke excellent English and was a lovely guy, but what really impressed us was that the other people in the hotel had thought about us and made sure we felt included. Really nice touch.

A few years ago our first Christmas day skiing was in Mayrhofen. We'd only arrived late on Christmase eve (over 24 hours late!) so just went for a gentle pootle up on the Ahorn side. Bluebird day with virtually nobody around and excellent snow. Utterly relaxing. That's a Christmas day I'll remember for a good while.
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Quote:

what really impressed us was that the other people in the hotel had thought about us and made sure we felt included. Really nice touch.

snowHead yes, very nice indeed.
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Someone above said bring crackers...yes if travelling by car. But you can't fly with them! We take a home made Xmas pudding and custard, stuffing mix, cranberry sauce but have always found almost everything else at the big Carrefour in Moutiers.
We get up late, exchange small gifts, have a leisurely breakfast, Bakery is always open, go for a ski about 10.30 with the whole party on quiet slopes till it starts to turn cold (3 ish) having stopped for a cheeky crepe and beer for lunch, come home, I cook dinner on 3 rings and an oven the size of a shoebox (I like a challenge!), eat full roast turkey dinner about 7pm with lots of wine, kir, etc, and then replete/drunk we can watch French TV where there is often a Circus (acrobats) which we find fascinating, or watch a new DVD, or play games. It's quite traditional at ours. We don't have UK TV at present in France.
We used to take stockings and small gifts with us, and request FC by letter to leave any large sized gifts at home. This did cause some Angst the first time - maybe FC should have replied to the letter!
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
snowyowl wrote:
We used to take stockings and small gifts with us, and request FC by letter to leave any large sized gifts at home. This did cause some Angst the first time - maybe FC should have replied to the letter!

Come on franzClammer, step up to the plate.
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Valkyrie wrote:
We spent last Christmas in a small hotel in Lech, where all the other guests were either German or Austrian. Nearly all the guests had being doing Christmas there for years and knew each other very well. During the Christmas Eve dinner there were two readings - guests getting up and reading a short story/passage on the meaning of Christmas. Just as this was about to start a German man appeared at our table and sat himself down. He'd been volunteered by the other guests/staff to be our translator. He spoke excellent English and was a lovely guy, but what really impressed us was that the other people in the hotel had thought about us and made sure we felt included. Really nice touch.

What a lovely story.
I have learnt that Christmas is far quieter than New Year in Austria.
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Frosty the Snowman, agreed - you wouldn't have known it was Christmas in Flachau.
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I learned never wear a all-in-one skisuit after consuming sprouts - when it reached its pressure limit and ruptured, I gassed 7 and lost my sense of smell till June! Sad
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Richard_Sideways, PMSL Laughing
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Don't do that in yer fartbag either.
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You know it makes sense.
Richard_Sideways, Smile
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Loving all of the input from everyone thanks all! Great reading.

I expect we will join in the christmas eve evening celebrations in Val D'isere and probabaly go for a nice meal out somewhere as I believe it's the chalet host night off too, and then christmas day open some token pressies in the morning and crack on with the important stuff - hitting the snow!! As part of the silliness though, we're currently plotting festive winter onesies to go over our usual attire. Can we get the 50+'s to wear them though will be the big question.......?! http://blog.animalcostumesshop.co.uk/2013/01/winter-sport-animal-costumes.html#.U0GRKqhdX4w Also looking forward to our normal tradition of rubbishy board games on christmas day eve; I agree with the not needing TV. Everyone only goes to sleep anyway!!!
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Spent Christmas In Zermatt a few years ago and we really enjoyed it. Great to get away from the in - laws and all that nonsense in terms of the usual obligations as to who is entertaining who. We went to evening mass (even though we are C of E) and found it very atmospheric and on Christmas day we ate salmon for lunch and went to the Stockhorn Grill and had Chateau Briand in the evening, not missing the usual turkey feast at all. We also found the slopes on Christmas day amazingly quiet. We will do it again in the future. Very Happy
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FiFi_Trixibell, we met a group out skiing on Christmas day, dressed as the characters from the Nativity, even down to one as the Baby Jesus. Brilliant.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Hells Bells, I believe the trick is to coordinate...as above the characters should work as a group, or be all the same, a pack of pandas or pikachu, very funny!
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Just found out I'm leaving next Christmas Day to start a job in Deer Valley, which means I'll get out of having to cook Christmas dinner! I've always liked working on Christmas Day since it's usually quiet, the lull before the mad rush that starts on Boxing Day.
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skinanny, Deer valley sounds delightful. Where is that...Rockies?
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snowyowl, Utah - the one place I've always wanted to ski.....and I'm getting paid to do so!
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skinanny, nice!
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
pam w,
Quote:

Useful reminder that, amongst all this wonderment and magic and enthusiasm, Christmas is a risk, weather wise. Days are short, snow depths are statistically likely to be low and it often seems to be fairly mild, which means precipitation will fall as rain in many places.


You're like the ghost of Christmas ski-trip doom and gloom!

I love Christmas away and would go skiing at Christmas if I had a willing family! Spent most Christmases as a child away - parents always took a stocking but not normally many other gifts. In our family father christmas does the stocking and gifts are form real people though so there wasn't that problem to contend with.
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I've been skiing at Christmas every year for the past God knows how many, I know my last Christmas in the UK with my own family was in 1976 after which I vowed never, ever again. We alternated for a couple of years with skiing and Christmas with my husband's family; but even he decided in the end that Christmas in the mountains was way, way better than tiptoeing around various people's sensibilities and hoping that we might all be able to agree on something to watch on the TV.

Contrary to pam w's rather negative take on things, I have never, in all my trips over the years to various parts of the Alps, not skied at Christmas. I have only once been forced to go "high" due to a lack of snow (Leysin in the early/mid 80s, so we and the rest of the world queued to go up to the Diablerets glacier). Luckily it starting snowing heavily on Christmas Eve and continued to snow for the rest of the week on and off, so the ordinary slopes were opened quickly. Christmases in the Haute Savoie, Alpes Maritimes, Italy as well as Austria, were always much more enjoyable than fighting your way around British supermarkets and then sitting around eating and drinking out of sheer bloody boredom. The high tech snow-making facilities most resorts have these days have also taken a lot of the uncertainty out of skiing in December. This year was rather snow poor in the parts of Austria I visit but we had fabulous conditions from the 30th November/1st December all the way through to the end of the New Year period.

Apart from being in the mountains and being active, the most attractive thing I like about it is the sheer lack of rampant commercialism and materialism that seems to typify the build up to Christmas in the UK. Christmas Eve is always a quiet family time regardless of where you are, presents are small and more tokens than an outward show of "keeping up with the Joneses". I attend Midnight Mass in most locations, and these days I'm glad to be able to listen to Carols from Kings as well as watch the BBC2 version. This year I only gave presents to the young children of friends and received none, but I still had a great time.

I would do it if you can, it is a magical time to be in the mountains and if you have children, they will appreciate the family time well as the activity during the day. I don't think you need to schlepp out all the traditional Christmas dinner ingredients, there are plenty of options in the form of local restaurants and it means everyone has an enjoyable meal without the hassles of preparing, cooking and clearing up afterwards. I do sometimes have crackers to play with, I love making up English "traditions" to flummox my friends with, they look so uncomfortable wearing the paper hats for example and the jokes often fall flatter than they do at home. But it is fun.
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We spent about ten or 12 years on the trot in Niederau, taking my dad with us, and meeting up with other friends there, some old friends from the UK, others that we met in Niederau and are now classed as old friends, 26 years on. The trigger for going away was my mother dying in early January the year before our first trip and us not wanting to sit round and feel there was an empty chair..... and once we started we never looked back. In the early days we hired boots, skis, had four hours ski school a day and all that sort of thing. OH used to hand over the lift passes to the children and say Happy Christmas - we used to take some smallish gifts for each other and hand those round on Christmas Eve - the children said they 'didn't want to waste time from skiing' the next day. Midnight Mass some years - coming out to hearing the local brass band softly playing Silent Night and to find it had started to snow - that was a real tear jerker. And we used to go to a Carol Service on Christmas Day organised for the English speakers - and all took a turn at reading a lesson over the years.
And we never failed to be able to ski there either - although some years it was touch and go.

We also reckoned that it really didn't cost much more than staying at home, with all that filling the house with food and drink, activities to keep everyone amused, endless drinks parties meeting up with the same old people. At least we met up with the same old people on the ski slopes!
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I think you're being a bit hard on poor pam w, all she was saying is that snow can be dodgy at Christmas. I've found December ski-ing to be a bit marginal too, not every time but often enough to be a consideration. Like pam, I am lucky enough to be able to go several times a year, others are not.

However I always cleave to the adage that a bad day ski-ing beats a good day at work, and the same goes for Christmas ... if one must be holed up playing board games while the rain falls outside, then I would rather do it in the mountains with the prospect of snow tomorrow, than at home with the prospect of little more than too much food and drink.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Someone above said bring crackers...yes if travelling by car. But you can't fly with them!


British Airways and Aer Lingus allow crackers, we bring them to Austria every year in our checked
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
We flew a number of years ago and I recall the children looking at OH, eyes wide open etc when he said he had no crackers in his checked luggage...
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:

British Airways and Aer Lingus allow crackers,


What about cheese?
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Quote:

What about cheese?


if it's explosives filled cheese it has to go into checked
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Actually, if (like me) you enjoy a drop of Port at Chrimbo, buy before you go, as not usually much selection in French supermarkets
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sanman, I know - but for sometimes you have to compromise and accept you aren't going to have the perfect chance of amazing conditions for your ski trip. If you have school age children you can go Christmas, NY, feb half term or Easter. For Pam, Christmas and NY are too marginal, too expensive and NY too busy. Half term is too busy (and too expensive for a lot of people) leaving only Easter as acceptable.

Loads of people enjoy a ski trip at xmas so it can't be THAT bad eh? Very Happy
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The only really poor snow conditions we have had had at Xmas was at Grand Bornand in the early 00`s, arriving on Boxing day to heavy rain. We stayed put because as far as we could find out back then, conditions were dire everywhere. However once up on the slopes we had snow not rain to contend with it was only at resort level we had the mud! I would not choose to have a caravan holiday in the mud and it was one of only two (the other was Samoens one half term) when we have ever had to endure rain and mud around the van! I would still rather have a muddy resort and be in the Alps then back at home though!
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We have skied almost every Christmas and NY since we bought our apartment. On every occasion we have been able to ski, although once or twice the links with the rest of Serre Chevalier haven't been opened until later in our stay (could be more to do with numbers than snow cover though). At no time have we been unable to ski, although it was a bit close for comfort this season. Snow coverage this time was not the best, but we skied every day and links across were open on most days (wind and avalanche risk closed them more than lack of cover), as were the runs to resort. We've often had superb conditions, arriving Christmas Eve on a detour via Gap because of heavy snow or waking up to fresh powder on New Years Day.
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FiFi_Trixibell wrote:

We are catered so no cooking required thank goodness


Maybe worth remembering that the chalet girl/boy is likely to be a youngster possibly spending their first Christmas away, so a small present for them (or help with preparations) would surely be appreciated
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DCG, that's a thoughtful idea. Alcohol is ideal...../ wink
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Skiing at Christmas
1. No fighting with the hordes at Sainsburys on Christmas eve, even if the fridge door is creaking on its hinges
2. Swapping dull grey skies for pure blue
3. Swapping drunken revellers for schnaps drinking, flying hirsch guzzlers etc.
4. Returning to dear blighty for new year with a healthy wind blown complexion rather than a sallow grey looking of total indulgence.
5. No spud peeling, dry turkey or having the revenge of the sprout.

Giving Zermatt a miss this year and heading for Saalbach this year.

So it'll be christmas number 25 in the Alps for me.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
DCG wrote:
FiFi_Trixibell wrote:

We are catered so no cooking required thank goodness


Maybe worth remembering that the chalet girl/boy is likely to be a youngster possibly spending their first Christmas away, so a small present for them (or help with preparations) would surely be appreciated


Don't panic! We have already thought of this one thanks Happy Hoping whoever we have is somewhat able to produce something close enough to a decent meal (we've always had great chalet food so I'm perfectly cool with whatever we get anyway) However, it's going to be a blimmin nightmare controlling the MIL who (having never stayed in a chalet or anything that similar before), will be literally DESPERATE to get her hands on the utensils I'm sure, bless her! Will have to ply her with enough champagne so as not to embarrass the hosts! haha. Sure if it comes to it they will gladly appreciate the help! wink
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