Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas from West Virginia! It is December 25 today, and I am spending the holidays at Snowshoe Ski Resort with my family and Karen Suzuki, my good friend of 7 years of age, from Hayama Japan. In addition to trying to keep up with this blog, I am also helping Karen keep one of her own (KarenInAmerica.blogspot.com), so her mom, her little sister Maria, and the rest of the world can see all the fun that we have been having together over the holidays.

Unfortunately it is raining today - so rather than a White Christmas we are having a Whet Christmas! I am being really lazy - don't want to ski at all in this weather 'cause it is miserable. But Karen is being a trooper; she is out for an entire day with the Ski School. She started Ski School yesterday and has already improved so Much. She even went skiing with me on the "blue" advanced slopes!

Karen is FEARLESS when she skis, so today my mom lent her her helmet to keep her safe. Rather than zig-zagging down the mountain under control, Karen prefers to head straight down the hill, no breaks, and not knowing how to stop herself. (She did point out to me yesterday that if she really wanted to stop, all she had to do was fall down) . Anyway, Karen skis without fear, and she insists on going down the hardest slopes. We had to tell Karen that if she keeps going down the slops straight - and out of control - the ski patrol might take her ticket away from her as a punishment. I think that that got her attention.

A picture of my favorite slope, "Shay's Revenge"

Although it is raining and yucky today, yesterday the weather was spectacular. It was the best skiing that I have ever experienced at Snowshoe. There has been a lot of snowfall this year in the weeks before we got here. So for the first time in over 10 years, Snowshoe opened up its two premier expert slopes, Cup Run and Shay's revenge, for the first time in over 10 years before Christmas. Like I said, the weather was gorgeous, the skies were cobalt blue, the sun was warm, and views of the valley and surrounding mountains were crystal clear.

View from the top of Cup Run
I got to ski on my own for a while before having to pick Karen up from Ski School. I was feeling so great and having so much fun, that I started to ski quite aggressively until I took a crazy fall, head into the snow, and inadvertently digested about 10 pounds snow as my head burrowed forehead first into the ground.