December 20th

Home now with my family. We leave tomorrow to go to the Alps for skiing. Dad is the only one who has been before so this ought to be interesting. Mum and Dad acting v. childish. Keep laughing and flirting with each other…Ew.

December 22nd

Skiing doesn't look that hard. I have my outfit picked out and everything….baby blue hat and mittens, a light coat and scarf with unfortunately some old snow pants that my Mum dug out from the depths of our basement. They look as if you could fill them up with hot air, they'd blow up like a balloon and carry you away. Hmmm…maybe I'll try that when we get back from our trip. Well, since Horatio isn't here-there's no need to bother myself about them.

Mum keeps saying I should have dressed more warmly. Ha. What does she know? I'm bringing a scarf and mittens…what more do I need?

December 27th

In Switzerland! V. pretty. Christmas was wonderful…I got some presents from my parents…but most of them are at home they said. We're going to have a sort of second Christmas when we get back from vacation.

December 29th

Skiing sucks. Oh how I hate it. I can barely walk on my own-let alone with two enormous ski's strapped to my feet. I managed to go down the beginner hill though…backwards.

It's also v. v. v. cold. Why didn't my mother pack me something warmer? All she can say is "I told you so, Dora."

Dad is not much better- he has these ridiculous goggles that he insists on wearing. I keep trying to ski on the opposite side of the slope so that no one will think we are remotely related.

On the bright side, I have found my soul mate! He runs the ski lift thingy and every time I see him, he smiles as me. He doesn't seem to notice my hideous snow pants. He has blonde hair and green eyes and he wears a red hat…His name is probably Hans or something.

Unfortunately one time when I was smiling back at him, I missed the chair and was almost knocked over by it- it kept going too, dragging me along-and I began screaming as I clung onto it, dangling a few feet above the ground.

Smiling Hans stopped the whole lift just for me and came out to help. He asked if I was alright and I said yes…

There was such a connection between us…I could feel it! One day I will join him and we will ski off into the sunset together…

Well he'll ski at any rate…I'll probably just run myself into a tree.

December 30th

Last day of skiing. Thank Merlin. I'm bruised and aching all over. I spilled hot chocolate on me today and nearly received 3rd degree burns. I wanted to say goodbye to Smiling Hans but unfortunately he was not there working at the ski lift. No matter- I will come back one day so that I can say, "Smiling Hans- I love you and I know that you love me…we are soul mates- come with me so we can spend the rest of our days happily together under the Swiss sun…"

Mum didn't like skiing v. much. She's almost as bruised as I am and her temper is quite short these days.

Poor Smiling Hans…all alone in this bleak, snowy land without me by his side…how will he ever cope?

December 31st

Heading home at last! Finally…I hated skiing…except Hans made the trip enjoyable.

My Father does not understand that. He asked me what I thought of the trip and I said it was wonderful…thinking of Hans of course. He got real excited about that and told Mum that maybe we should do it again next year.

She told him that she was planning next year's trip and it was going to be far, far, far away from skiing in the Swiss mountains.

Authors note: The next few weeks are going to be v. hectic for me. Updates could take awhile for all stories…just thought I'd put that out so that nobody wonders what the hell became of me. TFM