My mom was going to have a blue Christmas this year. Or so I hoped. Although she skied green all the time, I was hoping to have her ski a blue trail.

It would be a very hard time convincing her. At ski resorts, she generally spent most of her time on one part of a mountain. Parts she skied in generally took me around five minutes to complete.

But this year, it was going to be different. I wanted her to actually ski a blue trail.

In the sport of skiing, as well as all the other mountain sports, ski trails are labeled based on difficulty. The colors represent difficulty, from green circle, to blue square, to black diamond, to double-diamond, to extreme terrain.

I had the ability to ski a hard blue / easy black trail. That wasn’t to say my mom had the same ability. She skied easy green trails. That was it.

This year, it would be different. Or so I hoped.

One day, while my mom was skiing particularly well, I decided that it was maybe time for her to try something new.

So I decided I would maybe surprise my mom. Give her a challenge.

So in that fashion, I told my mom to follow me, and I led her up a new lift. Up here, she started shivering. It must be colder up here.

Soon, my dad followed, gently ushering my mom forward, and I went in the front, leading the way.

I turned off onto the blue trail, and began skiing downwards, eventually stopping at a point.

It was more steeper here, and that was even more outlined by the fact that the sun was slowly setting downwards, shining through the trees. They glowed, and like me, they invited my mom in.

But she stopped on the top.

“This is a blue trail!” she shrieked, pointing at the sign. “You know I don’t do blue trails!”

“You will do blue trails. Come on, Mom, just this one. It’s really easy,” I said, calling at her.

My dad beckoned her forward.

Finally, I could almost feel her wincing.

She pushed forward.

Shortly afterwards, my mom reached the bottom of the trail. She highlighted this trail as the “hardest one I will go on”, stating she would never do that again. She made it, though, and I still secretly think that she actually loved that run.

This article is part of a series on my 2008 winter trip to Colorado. They are tagged with the “2008winter” tag.