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Guy Fisher takes son Wallace tree skiing on Boxing Day

"Christmas in Wengen was as wonderful as I expected it to be. Having skied there with the children since they were born, using various family members and locals for babysitters, it was actually the first time we had taken the children there for the Christmas week. My immediate feeling was one of relief to have escaped all the hectic rushing about of Christmas in the UK.

We love taking the train from the airport (our luggage having gone ahead on the brilliant Swiss flyrail service) and pulled into the resort to find snow all through the town and Christmas lights twinkling.

Our small chalet where we stayed in Wengen, set just down from the main village centre was rustic, warm, and peaceful and had everything we needed, with beautiful views across the Lauterbrunnen Valley.

The older children settled into ski school each morning in the build up to Christmas day and when the day itself arrived, it was really just like any other. My two eldest children Wallace and Minnie headed to ski school, Snowli, the local rabbit mascot turned up, and it was business as usual.

Guy and I even managed to get in a couple of hours of skiing, relieved that our wonderful babysitter could have our youngest, Zac, for a few hours in the morning (too young for ski school at just 1yr old!). We popped into the ‘Start’ bar at the top of the famous Lauberhorn run and had a quick coffee to celebrate both a white Christmas and our little window of freedom to ski on Christmas Day.

Later that day, having been unable to stay up late enough for the popular Christmas Eve church service the night before, we decided to head up into the woods for the early evening ‘Forest Service’. Initially following some torch bearers off for a Christmas Day’s walk, we soon realised they were heading in a different direction to where we should have been.

Wallace soon spotted small bonfires lining the snow covered path which took us to a little clearing above the village. The local Swiss and English vicars were there alternating readings in both languages and locals and holiday makers alike were singing along to hymns in both languages too. It was a beautiful way to finish the day but also left me feeling sad not knowing what had happened to the missing English guy who had vanished a few days earlier.

Wallace and Minnie enjoy the snow

Wengen ticked all the boxes for a Christmas break. Many people worry that it is too low for skiing at Christmas time but year after year the resort seems to catch the snow and this year was no exception – all the lifts were open with good skiing all the way down to Grindelwald.

The famous black Lauberhorn run also opened up for our last couple of days there – it was great to get a fast blast down it, to get a feel for the skiers who will be flying down it in for the World Cup Downhill.

In two weekends time I can’t wait to go back to the Jungfrau region, across the valley in Murren, for the ‘’Inferno’’, the biggest amateur ski race in the Alps, with 1800 entrants, which can be 15.8 km in its entirety, from just below the top of the Schilthorn mountain where the famous Bond film ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ was filmed, all the way down to Lauterbrunnen at the bottom of the valley.

It has been at least six years since I have taken part in the Inferno (and it was a short one, finishing in Murren that year), in which time I have had three children, so I’m looking forward to the fitness challenge, the race includes intense uphill as well as downhill sections. I’ll let you know how I get on!"

Vanessa