'Christmas in August' Yellowstone Style

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7:07 am - Friday - August 25th - 45º F, humidity 84%, wind 4 mph out of the east.....partly cloudy....forecast high for Gardiner, MT is 79º F, and 73º F for Mammoth Hot Springs, WY.

I only became aware of the annual 'Christmas in August' tradition a few days ago (you can read about its history here).  Apparently each August 24th the staff of all concessionaires in Yellowstone National Park renew this annual tradition.  If you work for Delaware North you were given a t-shirt like the ones my 'Fountain' co-workers (Adelaide and Roscoe) are wearing in the picture below.....for those of us who work in the 'Fountain'  who must wear hats to prevent hair follicles from contaminating any food we serve Santa Claus hats were provided......

 Adelaide donned a Santa costume for about two hours as she walked about the store singing Christmas carols.

......TLE and I worked our 'MID1' shift (11 am to 7 pm)......the General Store was closed early (7:30 pm) so we could set up tables to feed our 38 employees a catered Prime Rib dinner provided by the chefs at the Xanterra restaurant located next to the General Store......

My 'usie' contribution

Our store manager, Kristal Leonard, contributed this 'usie' to the many pictures which were taken on the front steps of the General Store.

 My buddy Peter from Ghana  and I waiting for the gift exchange to commence.....yes, I am wearing Mardi Gras beads.

.....our customers got a kick out of the 'Christmas in August' theme, and really got into the spirit wishing us all a Merry Christmas......our European visitors especially enjoyed our antics.....those crazy Americans, right?

We got hit with a few bus loads during our shift, but they came one at a time instead of the three we got hit with all at once this past Saturday.  There would be a waive of people for about 30 minutes, and then it would get quiet once again.

Around 5 pm one of the floor supervisors ('Dodge') came by to show me a picture (below) of a small SUV which was driven off a large curb just outside the General Store by its inattentive driver.......

.....it wasn't until close to 7 pm that a tow truck arrived to rescue the poor motorist......

......it took about 1/2 an hour for the tow truck operator to winch the SUV off the curb without causing more damage.

August 25th is the 101st anniversary of the creation of our National Park Service which I am sure will be a focal point of our work day on Friday.

We had a lovely dinner and gift exchange and were home before 10 pm with smiles on our faces.  As is oft the case here in Montana/Wyoming it rained once again Thursday for about 20 minutes.  The almost daily rain is helping clear the air of the ever present smoke from fires to our north.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission.