Christmas Ski Trip from Sacramento

Christmas down in Sacramento this year, which for us means driving away from the snow instead of toward it. Santa hats on everybody, the girls posing by the white tree, and I wore the green sweater with the screaming cat on it, which got exactly the reaction I was hoping for.

The upside of holidays in the valley is that the Tahoe resorts sit only an hour or two back up the highway, so we still got our ski day out of it. Cold and clear, fresh snow loaded on the trees, and the lake flat and dark below the runs — largest alpine lake in North America, and from the top of the ridge you can see a good stretch of it. One of the girls rode the lifts with me in her blue helmet and goggles and grinned through the whole thing.

On one bowl there was a single skier out ahead of us and nobody else. Christmas morning empties a mountain out.