In Switzerland, the tradition is to celebrate the big day on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. And ever since the summer—when we were invited to join the Barbieros along with the Myers family—we’ve been preparing for an epic day.
We started it like anyone else would: heading up the mountain for some snowboarding.
We’d spent the last week snowboarding almost every day, Sheila and I trading off solo sessions up the mountain while the other stayed lower down on the T-bar with Cedar-bro. (Cedar-bro, if you’re wondering, is the nickname Louie and Alexe gave him—the tiniest shredder in Saas Fee.)
He’s been progressing like crazy. Loads of confidence. Even trying out some little jumps. He’s gone from barrelling straight down the slope full speed (usually aiming for something soft to stop him—most often me) to confidently riding heel side, carving both directions, and—most importantly—stopping in a controlled manner.
On his final lesson, Louie told us, “He’s ready to go up the mountain.” So this morning, Christmas Eve, our boy rode the gondola with us up to Morenia, tackled his first red run, took his first chairlift, and shredded down alongside Mom and Dad.
A snowboarding family!
He had a few bumps, including one gnarly crash on a tricky part of the run, but he got back up, and before long was back to smiling. He rides like his mom—a perfectionist. He doesn’t like to fall. He focuses so hard on keeping his balance, and if he wipes out, he wants to walk back up and try again, clean.
I prefer to wipe out often and in the most spectacular fashion possible.
Maybe with time he’ll end up somewhere in between our two styles.
Either way, we had a blast. The weather has been unreal—a mix of fresh powder days and bright sun. And if it’s cloudy in the village, odds are you’ll break through the fog layer into clear blue skies up top. Beautiful.
After a solid half-day of boarding, we headed home to get ready for the evening. We were joining the Barbieros at Paul and Karen’s chalet for Christmas Eve: apéro and fondue chinois.
Sheila had offered to bring dessert and was busy in our little kitchen whipping up a mousse (or pudding? something delicious). Meanwhile, Ina, Andrea, and the boys were prepping dinner at the restaurant.
We met outside, loaded up the electro. Cedar and Sheila rode with Angelo and Ina, while I walked up with Andrea and Gabri.
The chalet looked straight out of a lifestyle magazine—beautifully appointed, a perfect mix of modern and Swiss.
The last time we saw Paul and Karen was at the Jazz Fest in Montreux. We were waiting for Sonya and Len, they had a date to see Neil Young and Chrome Hearts. That night they invited us to join them for Christmas Eve, and we’re glad we took them up on it.
By the time the walkers arrived, Cedar had already made himself at home and was giving me a full tour of the chalet, proudly pointing out the office I could use if I “needed to do work.”
Paul had already cracked open one of many cases of champagne and was sneakily keeping everyone’s glass topped up (I don’t think mine ever got below half). Andrea was alternating between tending the broth on the stove and using a giant magnum of red wine as a microphone for one of many Queen singalongs.
You can probably guess how the rest of the night went. Actually, you probably can’t.
Yes—there was a healthy mix of Queen, Bowie, and Gaga karaoke. But also: paper airplane engineering, epic block towers, Jenga, mini bowling, and a whole lot of laughter.
It was so nice to see the Barbiero family cut loose. They work so hard at the restaurant—it was amazing to see them relax and have fun.
Cedar, Angelo, and Gabri were on the floor building LEGO, testing paper airplanes, sharing notes on aerodynamics. Andrea even joined in before the planes got launched off the balcony into the snow.
We are so incredibly lucky to have been adopted into this little Saas Fee family.
Walking home (not as easy as you’d think after a few glasses of champagne), with Cedar asleep in my arms and a light snow starting to fall—it was just about as picture-perfect a Christmas Eve as I could imagine.
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: We are so lucky to be having this experience.
