Saturday was Christmas Eve and as tiny as it is the village still provided some last minute Christmas shopping opportunities.
Russell began his prep work for Christmas lunch and then Zoe and Andy joined us for dinner before heading out with Ben for festivities at the pub where apparently they won the gingerbread house competition.
Christmas morning didn't quite deliver the forecast 'bluebird sky' but after present opening, champagne and Russell's famous pancrepes we were sufficiently fortified to head out to the Sunburst foot traffic lift for the eight minute journey up toTod Mountain.
Whilst the view wasn't optimal, snow falling on Christmas Day has an undeniable charm and we spent a while at the top before succumbing to the cold and heading into the lodge for a hot drink. Skiers in Santa hats abounded with the odd tiger onesie also in evidence as families, couples and friends celebrated Christmas.
We waited for Zoe and her group to arrive outside and then watched them board and ski down the mountain before heading back to start lunch preparation.
Eventually, at around 3pm seven of us sat down for late lunch/early dinner at a table literally loaded with enough food for an army and which finished at about 7pm.
I'm pretty sure a good time was had by all and the next morning as Ben prepared to meet the shuttle for his trip down to Kamloops and a lunchtime flight, Russell and I were glad of a quiet day for rest and recovery!
The greatly overstocked fridge was gradually divided into leftovers for Zoe's household and that which would be tossed or eaten in the next 24 hours before departure. Bags were repacked and weights checked and we were thankful of the spare bag when Zoe's no longer needed summer wardrobe arrived.
Tuesday lunchtime farewells were painful as farewells often are and as Zoe headed back to work we began our drive down to the airport. We passed a couple of snow related incidents en route but arrived safely in plenty of time for our late afternoon departure to Vancouver and then ultimately on to Seattle.