Christmas Eve 2009

Life offers a few perfect days, moments, memories. I had some of those today, and think I may have taken a few perfect photos to commemorate a day in the snow with my brother Pat.

We began Christmas Eve day by going to the Powderhorn ski resort, where we rode the lift together so he could ski and I could play with my camera. Neither of us was disappointed. Here are a few of my favorite photos, and perhaps a short slide show. We'll see how that turns out. If there is a slide show, it will be added later, so check back. It'll be its own entry for Christmas.

The view from the ski lift is wonderful, but even better is the beauty and quiet up there.

Pat was ready to hit the slopes, but I was on the lift for a round-trip ride back to the bottom with my camera.

He was faster than I was, too. His shout from below not even a quarter of the way down let me get a quick shot of him sailing past my much slower conveyance.

I was so glad my trip was slow, as it gave me time to see the tiny pines among the huge pines and aspens. I know "winter wonderland" is probably just a trite saying to most people, but we live it here in Colorado.

The open areas on the hills are amazing to me. Why are there suddenly no trees? Sometimes you can see herds of deer or elk crossing or, even more often, the hoof prints of those herds in the new snow.

One photo I didn't get was Santa. He was on Powderhorn today, taking a break before his big run tonight. He smiled and waved, but I got flustered and couldn't get the camera aimed in time. He was going up the ski lift while I was going down. He sure looked happy. I could hear his loud "Ho ho ho" echoing off the hills when he realized I hadn't been able to get his picture.