Hundreds of travellers got their own special Christmas present today - a plane flight after spending the night curled up on hard airport floors in Brussels and Paris.
Air traffic returned to near normal at Paris's main airport, Charles de Gaulle, where hundreds were stuck overnight and staff handed out Christmas puppets and chocolates to stranded families.
Snowfall and severe shortages of de-icers meant hundreds of flights were cancelled at Charles de Gaulle and other European airports today.
But sunny skies and two shipments of de-icing fluid from the US helped Charles de Gaulle rebound.
"There were a couple of people screaming and shouting and fighting, but we all handle stress and problems differently," said Gigi Zagora, 27, from Johannesburg, South Africa, who was stuck overnight at the Paris airport. "(I sought a) certain type of peace to say, 'OK, well, there is nothing I can do'."
Flight screens showed only a few delays today in Paris. Children who slept in terminals overnight clutched their new puppets and with other weary travellers eagerly queued to board flights.
In Brussels, about 500 stranded passengers spent Christmas Eve at the airport after 10in (25cm) of snow fell early today, the heaviest snowstorm in the Belgian capital since 1964.
"I've never had such Christmas before," said Ron Van Kooe, who slept in the terminal. "It's one not to forget, actually. But also a lesson for the future to never book a flight on this date."
A Brussels airport spokesman said the situation had returned to normal by this afternoon and that remaining stranded passengers were on their way out.
In Germany, the situation in the skies and on the rails improved today, after Duesseldorf airport was closed for several hours on Friday and many trains were delayed.
French transport officials went to the airport yesterday and today to try to calm tensions and defuse criticism that Paris was not well prepared enough for the wintry weather.
In Charles de Gaulle overnight, parents covered babies on cots with airport-issued blankets and jackets. The airport turned up the heat and installed all-night police and ambulance patrols for the unusual vigil.
Unusually large amounts of snow in some western European cities have caused sweeping shutdowns and delays. London and Paris, not as accustomed to flying planes in below-freezing temperatures, buckled under the snow.
Shortages of de-icing fluid hit airports in Ireland and Belgium as well, leading to a domino effect of delays around the continent.
The weather was perfect for some today: in Berlin, the Berlin Seals swimming club enjoyed a suitably wintry backdrop for its annual Christmas dip at the part-frozen Orankesee lake in the German capital. Many of the swimmers turned out in red Santa Claus hats and one as Neptune.