Sainte-Foy: Phoebe and Félix's French Festive Firsts.

We did a lot of things this Christmas period, most of which we'd never done before. We're not proud of all of these experiences, but most of them have been very jolly indeed.

The two most obvious firsts were that the ground was covered in white, and we weren't with our families (who we love dearly). We were however adopted into Felix's extended French family for Christmas Eve dinner, which was so deliciously French that Phoebe's head nearly exploded. Huge thanks to Juliette and the rest of the Lamarches for giving us a Joyeux Noel! Earlier on Christmas Eve, we joined in a local town's tradition of walking/riding donkeys between neighbouring villages, accompanied by hundreds of tiny torch-wielding children who were very excited to meet Santa and his helpers as they skiied down the mountain, carrying gifts and mulled wine for the village folk. The whole situatuion was rather amusing, especially the donkey, Julie. On New Year's Eve we joined in some more interesting traditions down at the Auberge, including an all-on-all spitball fight involving both guests and staff, and some enthusiastic Scottish singing and dancing.

On top of all this, we've been busy with our first weeks of catered bookings which have gone pretty smoothly, and we're praying for more snowfall in the next couple of weeks as the christmas rush dies down!

Felix and some of da bois. Regular hooligans at Sainte-Foy.

Wining and dining, like the French. Foie gras, pâté d'escargots, champagne and oysters.

Eating like one of the three Kings at the Auberge Christmas dinner. 4 different desserts NOMZ.

Sparklers. Hooray! Maybe Phoebe should have been seated at the kids table.

A snow leopard making the most of a Christmas day ski.... (but seriously, why was she sitting with the adults?)

 Fefe in the powpow.

Enjoying an apres ski drink (or 5), with our kiwi compatriot J. Waetford (da slayahhh) and his lookalike Sam.

James promptly exiting the bar after spilling an entire glass of french champagne, which belonged to the slightly aggressive fooseball-playing frenchman to his right.

 Speaking of aggression... Felix makes it his duty to behead/destroy all snowmen made by children staying at the chalet. It took a lot of persuading to make him wait until the children were leaving, and even more to prevent him from throwing the head at the car as they pulled away.

Nepalese prayer flags at the top of the highest chair. To protect us all from avalanches and rabid marmots.

Mont Blanc, king of the French alps!

Le Monal, a wee village in the backcountry of Sainte-Foy station which gets abandoned in winter due to the sheer amount of snow. Very beautiful.

After pushing small children out of the way to get to the front of the line, we managed to secure our skijoering ride. Felix won't admit it, but he totally loved it.