Christmas In Yellowstone

Photo: An elk grazing right outside Mammoth's Visitor Center last winter.

What's my favorite place like at Christmas time? I can't tell you first hand yet (since I stay with family at this time) but I have some information that will help paint a beautiful picture.

From Casper, Wyoming's Star Tribune:

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK -- Candlelight services at the park's Mammoth Hot Springs Chapel are scheduled twice on Christmas Eve, but worshippers who've been there before know the passing elk and bison sometimes delay the services a bit. The 100-year-old chapel in the country's first national park stands to receive about 600 people Monday evening. "We're in the crown jewels of God's creation," said the Rev. Bill Young, resident minister for the past 25 years. "So we have a very, very special place to celebrate." Typically, many of the worshippers on Christmas Eve are among Mammoth's 300 or so year-round residents. Others travel from the communities of Gardiner and Livingston in Montana, or from Cody, a Wyoming gateway to Yellowstone. Tourists attend the services, as well. All lights in the chapel are turned out and each person receives a candle. All the candles are lit from a single flame, intended to symbolize that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. In its early years, the chapel built in 1913 drew some of the U.S. military personnel that oversaw Yellowstone soon after it was designated a park.

The following is a short excerpt from Nature's Christmas in Yellowstone by Tom Murphy. I have seen it a hundred times or so and never tire of it. It is often of PBS so I recommend it. Don't expect flashy holiday decor and music. Just sit back and enjoy the serenity of a place few people travel to in winter. Tom Murphy has quite a job!