Christmas in July…almost. My goal this week is to catch up on my blog, so we’re traveling back in time a bit to December of 2018.

We pulled into the park on a dark and foggy Friday night. Molly got her pjs on right away and we spent the evening playing games and reading Christmas books that I’d grabbed at the library. We had a few Christmas lights and decorations out and she was thrilled.

Cozy in her jammies.
Oh my! We read this book 20 times 🙂

Silver Falls State Park is an Oregon treasure. It’s a beautiful park, but at Christmas time it is especially magical. Each year during the second week of December the community hosts a holiday celebration loaded with crafts and activities for families. Everything is donated from local venders and booths are hosted by volunteers. Activities include crafts, live music, free refreshments, wreath making, gingerbread houses, a visit from Santa Claus, holiday lights, and winter hikes. It was great fun and will be a new family tradition for our family! Parking can be a hassle, so it was wonderful to be able to use the campground and just walk to the lodge. Luckily he fog lifted and it turned out to be a pretty nice day.

In the morning we walked over to the lodge for a donut and hot chocolate. Molly chattered our ears off the entire way. She wanted to make sure we knew that Bigfoot lived in forests just like these – She was fairly certain he wasn’t around this weekend though but she didn’t venture too far from us. Five is a fun age – she has a great imagination! We met Santa along the way which was a fun bonus.

From the lodge we walked over to the activity tent. It was busy and a little intimidating at first. But, with some encouragement, she got worked her way in and came away with some fun crafts.

There was also a “snow” machine that the kids loved. It blew out bubbles and actually did look a bit like snow on the ground!

We returned to the Airstream in the sunshine which was the perfect place for a nap and then a campfire. It was a weekend that we’ll remember for a long time! We can’t wait to return next year – we’ve already made reservations!