France-December 2011

Elisabeth and the lovely Christmas centerpiece that she made at school

Marche de Noel - Annecy

Marche de Noel

Annecy

Courchevel 

Poudreuse at Courchevel!!

Team Bocock with Tina Maze - World Cup Champion

Courchevel World Cup

Bococks and Nastasia Noens

Courchevel World Cup

First day skiing our our "home" mountain - Le Grand Bornand

Our dormitory - I mean apartment - after a day of skiing

Annecy in December

Mary, Elisabeth, and Pere Noel

The 3x/week market is year round

Jimmy-Annecy

Water running high in the canals in Annecy after much rain and then snow

Market in December

Willis, Jimmy, and Scottie - Chamonix

Mary and Nonie making decorations for the tree

Our Charlie Brown tree

Our tree in porportion

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The Annecy and the Charlottesville Bococks

Christmas morning

Jimmy - Chamonix.  Please note he is still in his Christmas PJs!

Elisabeth-Chamonix

Chamonix

Utah friends - look what we spotted on the tram at Les Grands Montets in Chamonix! 

Scottie and Molly making crepes

Elisabeth

Scottie and Jimmy

A long day of skiing for Mary and Nonie

Willis and Alex skiing the Vallee Blanche

Chamonix

Early morning view from Le Grand Bornand

New Years Eve - Annecy

As usual, December seemed to fly by.  Thankfully, the snow finally arrived in mid December.   The weekend of December 10-11, both men’s and women’s world cup races were scheduled to be held in Val D’Isere.  Val D’Isere is close to Annecy and so we had grand plans of going to see all the events.  Unfortunately all the races were cancelled (and moved to Beaver Creek, Colorado), because of lack of snow.  The following weekend, the women’s world cup GS and slalom races were scheduled for Courchevel.  Once again – we had grand plans.  We arrived Saturday morning only to find out that the race was cancelled because of TOO much snow!!  However, we had a great day of powder skiing and were able to watch the slalom on Sunday.   

We  lucked out at Courchevel, because by chance we stayed in the same hotel as Tina Maze. (For those not “in the know,” she is a world cup skier from Slovenia with many medals under her belt, and who is now in second place in the Overall Women’s World Cup Standings!!!!).  What a thrill for us!  We sat next to her at dinner, and then she met us in the lobby and signed a few autographs for us.  The kids had a “private discussion” with her and spoke with her for about 20 minutes. They asked her very important questions like: what does she eat for breakfast, what time does she get up in the morning, does she get tired talking to fans, how many languages does she speak, how many pairs of skis does she have, etc. etc.  We laughed because she could not remember if she had 90 or 60 pairs of skis!!!!   She was very very kind to the kids and we cheered loudly for her the next day!    Interestingly, up until this point, her season was not going well for her.  We notice that ever since she met the Bocock skiers, her results have drastically improved and she has been on the podium many times!!! 

At the race Sunday there were many photo opportunities with other racers and there was a lot of waving French flags.  We also by chance, sat next to Mikaela Shriffin’s mother and Sarah Schlepper’s husband and 3 year old son.  Mikaela is an American skiing star.  She goes to Burke with Aleck Sullivan, she is only 16 years old, is already skiing at the world cup level, and has finished 3^rd and 8^th in recent world cups.  Sarah is a 4 time Olympian, who just retired from skiing a few weeks ago after sixteen years on the world cup circuit.  

The Christmas hype seemed to be less here than in the States.  Of course the plastic toys and Costco equivalents still exist here.  However, there were not any Christmas parties or performances at school. There were no music recitals for the kids.  I kept thinking that because of the language barrier, I was missing something.  I asked several parents if there were any events at school, but apparently not. I will of course mention, that nobody invited us to a Christmas party or anything crazy like that!!!!!  There was a Christmas market set up the Vielle Ville of Annecy that ran from Dec 1-31.  There were plenty of crepes and vin chaud which was lovely.  We strolled through the market multiple times every day!

So – as the saying goes “nothing in life is free.”  Well we can certainly attest to that now.  When we arrived in Annecy, the ski team told us that all skis for Scottie and Jimmy (about 4-5 pairs EACH) are “taken care of” and that all 4 children will “get” team jackets, and transportation to and from training is “provided.” This list seemed endless, and we could hardly believe this.  Well, in early December we learn that to raise money for the ski club, the kids on the team were selling king cakes “galettes des rois” for Epiphany.  I figured, “fine I can buy a few cakes and be done with this.”  As it turns out – each child was expected to sell 10 cakes.  The team had no mercy on us, despite the fact that 1) we do not speak French well and 2) we have no family here to whom we can sell cakes.  So we were in a real bind… 10 cakes x 4 Bococks = 40 cakes x 13 euros/cake = 520 euros.  This is equivalent to about $676!!!! YIKES.  So the kids donned their ski team jackets and hats, and hit the pavement of the apartment and accosted teachers and parents at school.  They all knocked on doors and said :  “Bonsoir.  Je m’appelle . . . . .Je vends les galettes des roi pour mon equipe du ski . . . . “  We had no shame…. Who could resist them with their American accents, right? Mary sold all ten of her cakes, Scottie 9, and as a group I think they managed to sell close to 30 of the forty cakes.  As it turned out, other families didn’t take the contest as seriously as we did, but neither did they have as much at stake as we did!! We ended up winning the prize for the most cakes sold, receiving special mention in the team newsletter, and a highly prized pat on the back. Mary got a team hat for her 100% success. 

The highlight of December was spending Christmas with Jack and Nora and family.  They arrived on December 23 and we stayed in a chalet in Chamonix with them for a week.  We had a great time.  Plenty of new snow, great skiing, snow forts, beautiful mountains, and of course many laughs.  Chamonix was festive.  Alex and Willis skied the Vallee Blanche one day.  Six of us skied with a guide on the glacier one day.  Pere Noel arrived on Christmas Eve, thank goodness.  There was some concern as to whether he would ever find us – not in SLC, not in Annecy, but in Chamonix!  But fortunately, he did. 

Many thanks for all of the Christmas cards, emails, letters, skypes, and phone calls we received in France during the holidays.  We loved them!

 Happy 2012 to everyone!