White Christmas

Pad, pad, pad, went our feet as we crunched through the snow, coming down from mount Vodno in the dark. All the sounds were muffled, and a slight moisture hung in the air. The ambient light from the city of Skopje below us enabled us to see enough to pick our way down the slope. The day was 5th January 2008. Because of the Julian calendar, still used in Macedonia for the Orthodox holidays, this meant is was two days before Christmas. So having spent Christmas in England, two weeks later I was able to celebrate it again in Skopje! The snow even persisted until the morning of 7th, so I managed to have a white Christmas after all!