Its hard to believe, but the 2008 Camp ASCCA Christmas Weekend has already come and gone! Last weekend, twenty-nine campers arrived at Camp for a wonderful Christmas time. After dinner, we made ornaments & reindeer headbands and decorated cookies. Then, who should appear but SANTA CLAUS! He even brought Mrs. Claus with him! Santa talked with all our campers and heard their Christmas wishes, while Mrs. Claus helped him pass out candy canes.  All too soon though, it was time to sing the Goodnight song and head to bed (Saturday was a big day after all!).

After breakfast on Saturday, we loaded up the bus and headed to the mall in Auburn! There we spent a few hours shopping for Christmas presents (and some even saw Santa AGAIN!) and had lunch. Our campers found some great deals with the help of their counselors, so anyone who opens a present from one of our campers on Christmas morning is in for a surprise! Then it was once again time to load up the bus (this time with shopping bags too) and make our way to the Mountain Creek Inn at Callaway Gardens for dinner.

The wonderful staff at Mountain Creek Inn, not only helped us make it possible for for all of us to sit down for dinner all together (no easy task with more than 50 people plus ten wheelchairs) but really made it a special experience for our campers. They even made a special ice cream sundae for one camper’s birthday! The inn was beautiful and the food was fantastic, a perfect setting for a holiday dinner with friends!

Of course, after dinner it was time to see this year’s Fantasy in Lights display. After setting the Christmas music to play in the bus, we started out on the path through the displays. There was a lot of oohh-ing and ahh-ing over the amazing lights. There were flowers and elves, moving animals and the twelve days of Christmas, ice skaters and snowflakes. I can’t imagine a prettier light show! Then, of course, it was time to head back to camp and a well-deserved night’s sleep!

Sunday morning we got up for a late breakfast then spent the morning wrapping all the great presents from the previous day.  In a flurry of wrapping paper and bows, everyone finished just in time to be picked up by parents or guardians.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend for everyone, and definitely got you in the holiday spirit if you weren’t already! Thank you to everyone who made this weekend possible-our staff, Santa & Mrs. Claus, the folks at Mountain Creek Inn, and, last but not least, all of our campers!

Be sure to check out the pictures from the Christmas Weekend on Flickr here.