Dreaming of a white christmas....

... yes, dreaming, in the alps, in December!!! didn't think i'd see the day.
We are having the 'greenest' pre-noël since 1989 and the forecast isn't looking very white!!
Many of our friends,  us included, kinda count on the white stuff to bring home the bacon at this time of year.
No snow =  no ski - simple as that!   A ski-instructor friend recently remarked to Richard that this will be his first christmas day at home with his kids!
Until moving here I was use to family christmases - much merry making and lots of eating!! but no working, well at least on the 25th and 26th.  Chamonix (1035m), being a tourist destination, is open all hours during the festive season, and before having kids, I myself worked on christmas eve, christmas day, new years eve, new years day etc with out batting an eye lid.   But since starting a family, and not working outside the home, I've become fervently attached to 'my traditions'.   So while I stayed home wrapping, baking and singing carols on saturday morning, Richard and the boys took a wee trip to the Aiguille du Midi  (3842 m/12604ft) - where the snow is always plentlyful but the oxygen starts getting rare....

This ridge leads to the famous Vallée Blanche and the Col du Midi - the starting point for many high mountain adventures.  Everything here is off piste, for confirmed skiers and alpinists only.

The gate at the end of the picture leads to the ridge shown in the first photo, I'm glad I wasn't with them, the boys are too close to it for my liking!!!

Sunday afternoon we stayed lower down at a 'safer' and warmer altitude doing a little Stone Balancing...

the peak in the background is the Aiguille du Midi where the boys were the day before!

How did you spend the winter solstice?