Home for the holidays. It’s what people do (there’s even a song about it). It’s what I have done my whole life. Growing up my Mom would make sure we celebrated Christmas at our house then we trekked to Pittsburgh to visit the rest of the family. For the past 19 years I celebrated with my daughter and my family. For seventeen of those years I had to share the babe with her father. For seventeen years I’ve been a bit of a grinch.

Home for the holidays. It’s not what we did this year. My daughter and I headed to Canada for a ski trip with another family. It was skiing for the holidays this year. This year I was not a grinch. I was so happy, skiing and with my daughter for the Christmas week. The grinch in me disappeared. I like the holidays again.

We had a great time at Mont Tremblant in Quebec. The resort is gorgeous and with the French being the language, we felt like we were transported to a small village in France.

Mont Tremblant took advantage of the below freezing temps and made snow everyday. The temperature was great for snowmaking and it meant we skied in below freezing temps. Brrrr With blue skies and lots of layers we had so much fun!!!!

The mountain has a variety of levels and nice long slopes. There is a gondola to take to the top along with some big lifts. The gondola was a nice ride to take the chill off.

The staff is friendly and helpful. The village is filled with shops and restaurants. You must have the poutine and beaver tails. I definitely want to go back…after I reach my 50 in 50 challenge of course.

Skiing for the holidays was something new, there are some sacrifices like not seeing the whole family. I missed seeing the church decorated and singing Joy to the World. Even without seeing the family, our time away was surprisingly guilt free (says a woman brought up Catholic 😊). We lived in the moment. We thought about the meaning of Christmas while skiing and Mont Tremblant provided the most beautiful backdrop. We even sang Christmas carols on the chairlifts (your welcome fellow skiers). I recommend skiing for the holidays. I’m sure we will be slopeside in future Decembers.

So I continue my quest for 50 new slopes…

Mountains to go in challenge: 17

Days on snow 18/19 season: 6