Belated Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that your Christmas was filled with cheer, good food and more importantly good times with family and friends.

2012 was a year of firsts for me. I usually spend my Christmas in Australia with my extended family. I missed them dearly in 2012 as I sadly could not make it back home. However, Rick and I made the most of our first white Christmas by going on a ski holiday with our friends in the beautiful resort town of Mayrhofen, Austria.

My first day of skiing

Another first for me was the fact that I learnt to ski for the first time. I’ll be honest. Skiing was never my first choice of holiday, but my motto is to try everything once and I am glad that I tried. I am now absolutely addicted to skiing and I plan to book another ski holiday as soon as possible!

My first day of skiing

My first day of skiing was awful! I couldn’t ski down the baby slopes without a crash landing or without almost knocking someone over. My friends tried to teach me a few things before class started but I was just not managing to stay up for longer than a minute. I was so upset that I almost (literally) threw down my helmet and  quit on the spot. But, I am not a quitter, and let’s just say that after a few ski lessons, I graduated from the baby slopes and was gliding down the blue slopes as if it was second nature.

Rick and I on blue run #2

Our ski instructor was fantastic. He took us to blue run #2 which hugs the cliff side and has a width of about 4 metres. Imagine my surprise when he asked us to follow him down this narrow run. I am not a fan of heights and I was only getting the hang of the baby slopes. I almost turned around but I bravely followed the class. I sharply turned the corner, panicked at the sight of the cliff edge and jumping into the thick snow that covered the mountain. I was stuck there for a few minutes while Rick talked me down – he couldn’t reach me as I had managed to wedge myself into the mountain about 1 metre above his head.

Shortly after blue run #2, we tackled blue run #20 which is the much steeper version of #2. This was one of the most challenging runs and it wasn’t without drama. I fell down multiple times as I sharply turned the steep corners but felt confident after a few goes. I learnt to ignore the fact that we were very close to the cliff edge and started to get excited about the view of the mountains. We moved onto a few other slopes and also into the private ski slopes which were no longer marked. Here, the powdery snow was untouched because only a few people knew about it. It was as if I was skiing in the cloud while speckles of snow fell gently around me. I remember looking at the view of the mountains, the Christmas trees covered in snow and the clouds below us. It was a Christmas card moment that’s for sure.

A White Christmas

As I mentioned earlier, my Christmas was spent with friends this year. I am really blessed to be able to spend my first white Christmas with a fun bunch of people. We stayed in a Chalet in Mayerhofen so our breakfast and dinner was provided to us daily. On Christmas day, we drank wine and ate turkey with all the trimmings. We even had a visit from good old Santa Claus who came bearing chocolates (not coal). We have been good girls and boys in 2012!

Christmas dinner (25.12.2013)

Finally, Christmas is never complete without checking the Christmas tree to see if the reindeer had eaten the carrots and Santa had sampled the cookies that you left outside on Christmas Eve. We spotted Santa’s foot steps on the stair well, which lead to the rooms of the families with children that were staying at the Chalet (greatly organised by the Chalet staff).

Before (24.12) and after (25.12) Santa visited the Chalet

Christmas was fun this year. I missed my family but we made amazing memories in Mayrhofen. We celebrated Christmas 2012 with much cheer, laughter and good company.

How was your Christmas? I hope that it was filled with sugar and spice and everything nice!