Christmas in Yellowstone

Christmas Eve arrived and it was time to head to Mammoth Hot Springs. Last year we began a family tradition of going to Yellowstone together with John's parents for Christmas.

Of all the 30+ Christmases I have enjoyed, our time together at Yellowstone last year was by far the best. Being surrounded by God's glorious creation, with innumerable outside and inside activities to enjoy, the focus of Christmas was not on opening presents. Last Christmas was honestly the first Christmas I haven't felt some twinge of disappointment and feeling of, "that's all?". And so, we decided to make the trek to Yellowstone a yearly tradition to be enjoyed.

This year, our family looked a lot different! With 6 children, instead of 2, the excitement and joy was even greater.

Mammoth Hot Springs is the only entrance into Yellowstone that is open throughout the year. Last year we bought a year pass for Yellowstone ($40 instead of the one-time entrance fee of $20!) and were able to use it again. Living so close to Yellowstone, we will definitely get another year pass. But, I digress.

Coming through the gates, we were asked if we were a commercial tour! I guess they aren't too used to seeing big 15-passenger vans being operated by families - usually they are some special tours. We assured him we were just a family, and weren't operating any sort of commercial tour!

When you stay at home at Mammoth, you stay in the old lodge. It is a beautiful lodge that has been upgraded, but still retains much of its historical appeal and charm. Out back behind the lodge there is an ice skating rink. A cabin next to the rink is open all the time with skates to use.

Across from the lodge is the dining hall which is where we enjoyed special family dinners. Down the road is a beautiful stone chapel - this is where we attended a standing-room only candlelight service on Christmas eve night.

All around the lodge are hills for sledding and trails for skiing. There was minimal snow this year, so we weren't able to do any sledding or skiing this year, but we had plenty to keep us busy.

After Christmas eve dinner, the kids opened a special present - all new PJs! Here they are all decked out in their new pajamas, cuddling with Gramps.


After opening their PJs and pictures, we headed over to church for the candlelight service. The evening was rounded out by attending an ornament decorating party in the "Map Room" at the lodge. Everything was supplied for participants to make special Christmas ornaments, including hot cider and cookies!

The next morning, we slowly woke up, enjoyed breakfast, watched the elk wander among the grounds of the lodge and eventually headed down to the Map Room to open stockings. John's parents' gift to us all is our trip to Mammoth and so we just do stockings for everyone. But, I think stockings are the most fun anyway - and apparently so did the kids.

With the Map Room empty except for our family, we opened gifts and played with everyone's new coloring books, crayons and lego contraptions for several hours. Apparently, we were quite the sight because we had several people come in to ask if they could take our picture. So, somewhere, pictures similar to these are in someone's Christmas photo album!



John and Sasha are building a Lego barn. Gramps is teaching me to play "Pick up Sticks" (and he beat me terribly!).


After cleaning up, it was already time for lunch. We headed out to the fire pit, and had an outside hot dog roast and picnic! What a great Christmas lunch!


Yum!


After lunch, it was naptime. And then, out to the hot tubs! Mammoth has hot tubs you can rent by the hour - individual hot tubs are outside under the stars, with a cabin close by for changing clothes and even showering. Most everyone enjoyed the hot tub. Lillia sat right down, while the rest of us eased into the hot water. And, Mariyana went "swimming" in the hot tub, even going under the water! Anabella and Sasha weren't too sure about the hot water, but all in all, it was a lot of fun.

There is nothing better than being in a nice hot tub outside in the cold winter air, under beautiful sunny or starry skies.


We had just enough time after enjoying the hot tubs to get dressed and head over to the dining room for our special Christmas dinner. The dining hall is quite a fancy restaurant, and it was the first time several of our kids had been in such a nice restaurant. We had discussions about why there were 2 forks, what to do with a bread plate, how to order food from a menu, where cloth napkins go while you're eating....We had to smile when all the kids about licked their salad plates clean that night. They didn't realize the salad was the first course, and more was coming! They thought that was all, and were a little surprised when another huge plate of food came, and then was followed by dessert! Needless to say, we brought several doggie bags back to our room!

Enjoying Christmas dinner.


With everyone dressed up and looking their best, we tried to take a few family pictures by the lodge's fireplace - this is the best we could come up with!





Goodnight!
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