XMAS!

Right. Stop moaning. I've been pretty ill recently, and the last thing I've wanted to do was sit down on my laptop for 3 hours straight and update my blog. So this might take some time...

Work has been building up to a bit of a crescendo recently. We have [7] people on our [2] desks at any [1] instant in time, but working as close to [100]% efficiency as possible, we still have roughly [∞] customers left to serve as time left before lessons start => [0]. Yeah, do the math(s), we've been pretty busy.

At last, Christmas came. Although this mostly meant that I got up early to MSN the family back home, I was also able unwrap some of my pressies! Yaaaay! I got a couple of great books (thanks, Auntie Jayne), some new socks (thanks, Aunt Tricia), various useful small gadgets (thanks, Mum and Dad), and of course some chocolate (thanks, Santa). Mum and Dad had already given me some skiing boots and a backpack, which had been extremely useful already, but I looked at them again as if I'd just been given them...

But I still had to work. I headed down the Gondola, set up shop opposite Guest Services, and started serving customers. Hey, that one looks familiar, is it a returning pupil, no, it's my brother, with a suspiciously rattling package. I give the previous customer back his receipt and his credit card, then Dave and I swapped gifts. He got a book and a photo keychain; I got a webcam. Photo below as proof... Only difference was, I didn't ask for the book and keychain back so that I could use them for the rest of the day to see the family back home...



Then back to customers who were not as inclined to give me gifts.

Half way through the day, I headed back up the Gondola to do some work in the Old Sunshine Lodge. I also dished out copious amounts of Toblerone Minis for my colleagues, instructors, and guests who were REALLY really really nice...

I didn't know what to expect for Christmas lunch at the Staff cafe, but I thought Poutine was a Cheap and Canadian way to spend xmas lunch. Also, very quick. But Chrismas Dinner was 180 degrees different. At least, I think that the Middle East is on the other side of the globe to Canada. Our xmas meal was mainly Lebanese and Greek food, and man was there a lot of it! Lamb, vegetable, humous, zadzhiki and other unpronouncable dishes etc, and even Pitta in its natural habitat. We also got some wine with our meal. There weren't many clean plates at the end, unfortunately. In fact, thinking about that mound of food while still in my slightly delicate state just made me cough a little... But it has been one of the highlights of living on the hill so far, sitting around with all my friends, eating copious amounts of good food and having a great time. But then, I struggled back to my room, changed for the evening performance, and headed over to Chimney Corner with sax and Patrick in tow (with piano on a sledge in tow behind him).

After a day of rest on Sunday (observe the Sabbath!), we'd had another music gig on Monday, and had been able to expand our repertoire to eliminate some of the worse Christmas carols. So for once, we were able to play the entire routine without repeating a song. We even got asked for an encore (although we picked a song I knew pretty well, Patrick was just cranking up the tempo like some Russian dance so I didn't get the chance to come up for air!), and finished of with a REALLY cheesy arrangement of Jingle Bells that we'd been avoiding all night. Then got invited for drinks in Mad Trapper's.

So although it didn't really FEEL like Christmas, it was one of my best days so far.

Dave took this one.