unnamedIt was a Merri morning at camp! After enjoying an extra hour of sleep, girls dashed from their beds decked in green and red to meet Bobby Boyd’s truck, stocked with fresh donuts and hot chocolate. As they waited for this special Christmas morning breakfast, they sang along the Mariah Carey’s, All I Want For Christmas is You— a camp favorite! The girls then returned to their cabins with donuts for their counselors to find stockings filled with candy (and of course, an apple) waiting for them.

 

After breakfast, girls sang along to Christmas tunes such as Joy to the World and O Come All Ye Faithful at chapel. After chapel, girls went on to their second period activity. Girls in climbing learned how to boulder on Spencer’s Green, a technique of climbing without a harness at low heights. Down in the kitchen, cooking class worked on Christmas pastas with red (marinara) and green (pesto) sauce. Yum!

 

For lunch, girls enjoyed meatball subs and pasta salad. For desert was everyone’s favorite: S’MORE POCKETS! Campers and counselors alike devoured the gooey treat quickly so they would have time to sing more Christmas songs after lunch. Everyone danced around the dining hall to Justin Bieber’s Mistletoe. Some older girls even started swing dancing between the tables. The Christmas spirit was alive and well at lunch time, but the girls were ready for some rest time after lunch.

 

Despite the candy and donuts and s’more pockets enjoyed today, the stampede down the hill to Trading Post was just as heavy as ever. Everyone at camp knows that the bugle that ends rest time is usually sets off a mass of little feet, storming down the hill to beat the lines to get their favorite candy, and today was no different. Girls enjoyed their candy with their friends while playing tetherball or hanging out with counselors.

 

After free time, girls went on to their third and fourth period classes. Girls in DIY crafts worked on bracelets made of strings and buttons and beads and lace, and girls in knitting relaxed on the patio while working on their scarves and headbands. Meanwhile, up at Lake Doris, an intense game of kayaking water polo was going on. Just inches away, girls at Puppy Camp took puppy Motley for a swim. Even though Motley knows how to swim, he seemed to most enjoy sitting on a paddleboard while the girls floated him around the lake. The puppies like to relax just like the rest of us!

 

The kitchen staff prepared a delicious, traditional Christmas dinner of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas, followed by peach cobbler for dessert. The girls really enjoyed the classic meal that many enjoy at home during the holidays. After dinner, we sang “We Were’s,” instead of cabin songs. This is when girls sing cabin songs from cabins they’ve been in during previous years. Every girl enjoyed listening and seeing what cabins their counselors and friends had been in before.

After dinner, girls went on to a Christmas Dance Party started by Santa himself! Girls danced with friends and counselors until they couldn’t dance anymore! After the dance party, girls returned to their cabins to get ready for bed, little did they know, the fun wasn’t over yet! Girls left their cabin and ventured up the trail to watch a special Christmas fireworks show. Intermediate camp even got to roast hotdogs at the council ring while they watched.

 

When the fireworks ended, most of the girls returned back to their cabins to sleep after a long day of Christmas festivities. However, Sunnyside, Sundrop, and Cloud 9 went back to their cabins to find a scavenger hunt awaiting them. They followed the clues around camp, thinking they would end with a trading post raid. Really, they got the Christmas present they had been waiting. It is a tradition for our oldest campers to receive clipboards with their names and tribe shields as a sign that they are close to being able to be on staff. The girls loved their clipboards, and awed over the pretty designs while munching on milk and cookies. It was truly a very Merri Christmas!

 

Wishing you and yours a Merri Christmas,

 

Arianna Jain

Cloud 9 Counselor. Hardcore Choctaw.

Go dawgs.