Miracle on Lookout Mountain (We Don't Have a 34th St)

Merry Christmas in July to ya parents!! We had a GRRRRRRRREAT Christmas day at camp. It all started just as the younger campers woke from their slumber started to head for the gym for Christmas morning. But just as we talked about, it was a little cooler this morning, they DID have a white Christmas! For just as they wiped the sleep from their eyes and looked around, to what from their wondering eyes should they see, but rolls and rolls of toilet paper hanging from each branch of every tree! The age out campers in riverside “somehow” managed to make their way over to the younger side of camp and were taught…. I mean, they knew how to do the old favorite act of toilet papering all the younger cabins. So every camper woke to a white Christmas even though there wasn’t any snow, it was still fun to see their eyes as they walked through the door and saw the toilet paper hanging everywhere!

But that wasn’t the best part! once they all got in the gym we had an official visit from Santa as he took a little time out of his vacation to do a quick hop down to Skyline to tell each camper Merry Christmas. He even had time to read “T’was the night before Christmas to them” (that other version, not the good one you ready last night!:-) ). If you don’t believe me just look at the pics and see for yourself and tell me he wasn’t the real Santa…….I’ll wait.

After he posed for some cabin pics with each cabin it was time for him to head back to the North Pole (he can only take so much humidity down here in his full suit) but as he was making his way out of the gym and to his ride of an F250….I mean his sleigh, he had no less than 12 young girls just walk up to him, look up with they’re big eyes and just extend the arms for a hug. Of course he took the time to give each one of them a hug before he finally was able to leave. I don’t care who ya are or how tough you claim to be, seeing those little girls walk up and just reach out for a hug and then smile from ear to ear as they headed back to their cabin group was one of the most heart warming things you could ever ask for.

After al the celebrating it was time for breakfast and then for Sunday School. After that everyone headed to the gym again for Skyline church and a message from one of our very own alumnae Aja Grimes. Aja was a counselor and admin here at camp years ago and now teaches and instructs a palates class in Knoxville. Everyone loves it when Aja gets back to camp cause she brings a manful and fun message. Not to mention somehow she always finds a way to tie in some of the dance moves with all the campers and her message so its a very active church service.

After church it was time for our Christmas lunch and you know what that means??????? Let me tell ya. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, cranberry sauce, cobbler and ice cream. As you can imagine, it wasn’t too hard to get motivated for rest hour after lunch. It took a while for everything to settle down and thank goodness it did. Right after Rest hour it was time for the biggest carnival on the mountain . We had everything from giant inflatable waterslides, face painting, snow cones, games and of course the waterfront was open for some of the campers to enjoy the blob, waterslide and pool. To top it all off, right in the middle of all the festivities, Mother Nature decided to add to the water input and gave us a nice rain shower for about 20 minutes and that cooled everything off except the fun. The campers stayed out there and the inflatable slides were slippier, the blob was blobbier and the waterslide, well it was still a water slide filled with running water. (gotcha there didn’t I?)

After a frantic fun filled fantastic festive feature of activities everyone was ready for our picnic dinner on the grounds and then counselor hunt. This is where all the counselors will dress up in their best camo and do their best ti evade the diligent eyes of all the campers as they pair up and look under every rock and bush trying to find the counselors. Some of the counselors will even go so far as to hide in trash bags in the dumpster but ya know what…even that trashy trick doesn’t work with your girls.. They were found out and forced to walk the walk of shame back to the gym letting everyone know they had been discovered. It was a fun night. I almost forgot to let ya know that each of those counselors were worth club points and after they all were found the final club results were….Rangers 3rd, Mounties 2nd and the Terrific Troopers 1st!! Way to go Troopers in making a move to get into the race for the points cup. It’s setting up to be a competitive 2nd week so stay tuned.

After a frantic fun filled fantastic festive feature of activities everyone was ready for our picnic dinner on the grounds and then counselor hunt. This is where all the counselors will dress up in their best camo and do their best ti evade the diligent eyes of all the campers as they pair up and look under every rock and bush trying to find the counselors. Some of the counselors will even go so far as to hide in trash bags in the dumpster but ya know what…even that trashy trick doesn’t work with your girls.. They were found out and forced to walk the walk of shame back to the gym letting everyone know they had been discovered. It was a fun night. I almost forgot to let ya know that each of those counselors were worth club points and after they all were found the final club results were….Rangers 3rd, Mounties 2nd and the Terrific Troopers 1st!! Way to go Troopers in making a move to get into the race for the points cup. It’s setting up to be a competitive 2nd week so stay tuned.

Tomorrow we’ll be back into all the activities and everyone will be up on their favorite horse or canoeing down the Little River. I wish I was gonna be around to see it all but tomorrow we’ll take our CSR class to their out of camp caving trip where we’ll spend the whole day underground exploring one of the local caves. The best part is that it will be 57 degrees all day where we are so I’ve got that going for me.

Well, its been a fun and busy Christmas day and folks, I’m flat worn out. I know the campers are too cause on my way over here to write the blog, usually I can hear a few cabins up talking or laughing and tonight it was nothing but the crickets. Which ain’t a bad thing at this point ion the session. I think I’ll follow their lead and do the same as soon as I hit the bed. You guys be sure to get some rest too we still have another flu week to go!!

Merry Christmas in July,

LJ