Quiet and white

A very Happy New Year and new beginnings to everyone! Finally, I'm out from hibernation in the cold environment of Alps after the holidays. Now will start to tell how it went for us. Normally we go to the North of France to spend Christmas with my husband's relatives or simply stay in Marseille and party with close Filipino friends or with my parents in law. This time was very simple and quiet because husband was on duty during the Noche Buena so we were not able to go out of town. Good thing he went home earlier than expected. We spent Christmas at home between us for the first time. I just made a simple dinner and we let the kids ate earlier knowing that they will not resist until midnight, I was right Mayumi fell asleep but Sébastien tried to fight his sleepiness because of excitement in opening one of his gifts. As of us, champagne and foie gras were an element of the dinner. We have eaten around 8:30 PM and ended at 10 PM. We let Sébastien opened one of his gifts before he went to bed and Mimi was far asleep and dreaming. She had gastro 3 days before the D day albeit she was feeling much better that night I guess she was really trying to recuperate from her sleepless nights. Before the holiday honey once told me that he will get a one week vacation because he hasn’t taken since August and he got them. Two days before Christmas his best friend called him proposing their apartment in the Alps to ski. Timing was good enough, one week free stay and spending white New Year why not ? It’s actually…PERFECT! I started packing on the 26^th to get ready on our Friday trip….direction Orcière Merlette one of the nearest ski station from the South of France. It was a 2 ½ hours trip not bad, of course I didn’t forget to take my medicine otherwise going up in the Alps would be a total nightmare….zigzag highway isn’t my cup of tea. We arrived there Friday at and we started cleaning the apartment. The flat has not been occupied for quite a long time so you can imagine how was the cleaning started and ended! Drained and famished I cooked pasta with ground beef, tomato sauce with basil the easiest dinner to make after that strenuous journey.

Saturday we received 2 friends including the owner of the flat. We woke up early to get ready for the day. The sun was in full participation. We went to ESF (Ecole du Ski Français) for Sébastien’s ski lesson for one week. We inquired how much would be the tariffs in renting the ski sets, rackets and ledge. And what are the easiest stations for racketeering since Mayumi will be carried by honey from a backpack ! The winter sports started that day. We went to an uncomplicated station for racketeering all together and did pick nicking up in the mountains. The weather was good, we had sun, great views, and the kids enjoyed walking and playing in the snow.

Sunday, Honey and Thierry (the owner) went skiing for the whole afternoon. Whilst me, I brought Sébastien to his ski lessons. For Rémi (other friend) who has a back problem and cannot ski we just went for a stroll. In fact we planned of going to the pool altogether but Mayumi fell asleep. It was hopeless to go swimming so then I went back to the flat carrying a big back pack and bringing Mayumi all the way down to the apartment….it was an early exercise! Rémi went swimming alone. The day was over. They had fun. Our two friends left at 5PM to go back to Marseille for the New Year celebration. That night we have feasted the Media Noche between us once again and since it was an exhausting day for everyone Honey and kids went to bed as early as 8:30 PM while I stayed up until 11PM, unfortunately I couldn’t resist the fatigue. I tried to sleep but when the clock strikes at 12 Midnight thinking that this would be a calm and quiet New Year, oh boy I was wrong! I can tell you that in the mountains people are crazier! They went out from the apartment with a loud cry, singing “La Bonne Année….” honking, whistling and with firecrackers too ! I didn’t know it could be this jubilant…young and old people were ecstatic of the approaching New Year!

Moreover, we were afraid that kids would wake up because of the noise but it didn’t work they were sleeping like an angels. If in case the sound would wake them up it will be okay it’s New Year anyway! I was telling this because it was in fact our first time to spend the New Year in the Alps and it’s somehow exciting. The rest of the week was spent into skiing, swimming, sledding and strolling between us while waiting for another friend to come overnight. He arrived on the 1^st of January around 8:30 PM and to welcome him I cooked chicken curry for dinner to recharge energy and get ready for tomorrow’s activity. Next morning, Honey and Sylvain went skiing the whole afternoon while me and kids went sledding before I bring Sébastien to his ski lesson at 2 PM. To save time I brought food for picnic then they could take advantage of their ski journey. Come 5 in the afternoon Sylvain went to the flat contented and happy to have skied and ready to go back to Marseille and get back to work the next day ! That night everybody were tried and kids just watched the DVD's on honey's laptop. The next 2 days were spent for strolling and swimming because it was snowing and windy. Friday we just went to see Sébastien on his ski lessons. I saw my son skiing very well ! I was really proud and happy to see him on his ski sets and his ski combination, it's like he did skiing eversince. This is to announce with pride that he passed the test and he got the L'Ourson medal this time after getting the Piou-Piou last year! Next time he needs to pass the Flocon which is more difficult then he could ski by himself or with his Papa ! Saturday we bid goodbye to the Alps and to the snowy mountains and hello to Marseille...now it's raining !