The Lane's next BIG trip: Day 6. Banff for Christmas. Wednesday 25th December

Finally, after years of planning, the day arrived - a White Christmas! Well, technically, as it didn't snow in Banff on Christmas day, it's not a real 'White Christmas'. But there is snow all around us, so it's close enough. As usual the kids got up early and thankfully Chelsea was feeling much better. Santa had obviously read Cameron's letter and knew where to find him and left some Christmas presents for him. We all got some holiday spending money in cards from family (thank you x). Andrew received a 'go-pro style' sports video camera to get some action shots over the next few weeks and the kids gave him a rebel sports voucher, Christine got an engraved necklace with the kids names on it and the kids gave her season 4 of GLEE! The kids got Lego, dvd's, cd's and a few other bits and pieces. Cameron is looking forward to when he gets home though, because Santa has left him something on his bed! After waffles, with maple syrup and ice cream for breakfast, we headed for the Banff Gondola that took us up 2281m above sea level to the summit of Sulphur Mountain. The views were breathtaking. Christine and Andrew braved the windy -12 degrees to walk 1 km to an old weather station on the peak of the mountain. Because we were wearing thermals and layers it wasn't too bad, except for the bare skin on our faces and hands when trying to take photos. We re-joined the kids in the café for coffee, hot chocolates,' fries' and poutine (a common Canadian dish, originally from Quebec, of chips, gravy and melted cheese curds). We left after a couple of hours just as some low cloud came over the mountain range and the place became inundated with tourists! Our next Christmas day activity was tobogganing down a slightly smaller hill. After a lengthy line up at the ski hire shop we hit the slopes. It was great fun but proved to be a bit rougher than expected. Perhaps it would be smoother on new fresh snow? The toboggan hill was next to the grand 125 year old Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. We all had a turn and some liked it better than others. Andrew and Jacob certainly got their money's worth. Christine, Chelsea and Cameron were quite happy to watch after they each had a couple of turns. Chelsea and Cameron tried their hand at building a snowman but the snow was too wet and wouldn't stick together well enough to build one. We headed back to the resort and freshened up for Christmas dinner, which would be back at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. We managed to book a couple of months ago for the family Christmas buffet in one of their magnificent dining rooms (the Alberta Room) and we weren't disappointed. The food was great and plentiful though we did feel slightly underdressed in jeans. With 768 hotel rooms, and all those guests wanting Christmas dinner, we were thankful we took an early booking as the line up to get into our dining room for the 8pm sitting was huge. There also seemed to be a bit of tension in the air from some of the waiting guests so we were lucky we had the earlier booking. After dinner we spent a bit of time wandering around the hotel marvelling at all the dogs that were guests (yes! they could bring their pets to stay at the hotel - in the rooms) and learning about the history of the hotel and soaking up the atmosphere. The hotel seemed to be never ending and there were countless rooms to explore. Many of the rooms were being used as dining rooms and the type of experience you had depended on what you were willing to pay. We chose the 'Family dining experience' which had entertainment and suited us very well. About 9.15pm we caught the bus back to the resort and turned in for a very well earned rest.