Our First Winter Gathering: A Retrospective

SO. We did it.

We gathered. 

In the winter time. 

Just as we planned.

And it was very pleasant! Despite the weather, which was not very pleasant. The weather was like 38 degrees and rainy. (AKA among the worst kind of non-disaster weather there is), but it only served to make the roaring fire in the Dining Hall seem even warmer and more welcoming. Over warm cider and hot chocolate, campers reunited with campers, staff caught up with long-lost staff, and some camp parents got to meet for the first time.

Usually, I'd just pick four or five pictures that I felt summed up the event, throw them up and let that be that.  However, this was such a wonderful afternoon and we got so many wonderful pictures of it, that'd I'm putting a couple more than the usual up here. If you couldn't make it, but the end of the pictures I hope you'll feel like you were here too.

A fire in the hearth...

Candles in the window...

Even the bear (begrudgingly) got in a festive mood.

The Wishing Well, evicted from it's usual spot, spent the afternoon on the porch as our Campership Donation Station.

CIT II grads! After their last session as campers but before Leadership Weekend and their future as volunteers, there was...the Winter Gathering.

The main event in the Dining Hall was Camp Craft Ornament construction.

And sitting by the fire was another main event.

And decorating cookies was a third main event.

We had a lot of main events.

Like smiling and talking and sipping warm beverages, that was another main event.

We had classic home made ornaments...

Like strung pop-corn.

And less-classic ornaments like Make-Your-Own-Camp Lantern!

And custom tree cookies!

And more sitting by the fire!

And then more smiling!

Worry not. The Spirit was in attendance.

There's a strict Camp rule that Jim and I can't both be smiling at the same time. This was Jim's turn.

Now it's my turn.

A warm cookie by a warmer fire. Pretty good. Pretty, pretty good.

We couldn't read the name of the building. It was the price we had to pay for thorough decorating.

Once constructed, the ornaments needed to make their way out to the tree. The tree which was in the icy, icy rain.

Which is why we made hanging the ornaments on the tree Sean Post's job all afternoon! Any time you have a task you don't want to do, please get in touch with the Camp Office. We'll send Sean Post to do it for you. (Especially if it's in the rain.)

Where to hang the ornament? A crucial decision.

Time to light the tree. To throw the big switch (that's right, we got a big switch just for this moment), we chose the youngest camper on site; young Griffin Konarski.

Ta-da!

Followed by a round of classic Camp carols (We Come from the Mountains, etc...)

And photo ops 'round the tree.

Yes, other Camp trees, you may be taller and more permanent, but at this particular moment you are certainly less incandescent. 

And then, too quickly (time flies when you're having fun [which we were, so it did]), we were at the end. And so...

 A Good Gathering to all...

And to all a Good Gathering....

And to all a good night.