Hello and Merry Christmas! Today is July 24th and we are celebrating Christmas in July! We would have celebrated on July 25th but Zach leaves us tomorrow morning and we wanted to share our Christmas in July festivities with him.
This morning we woke up at the Grand Canyon packed up camp and enjoyed Peanut Butter and Jelly for breakfast before getting on the road toward Williams, Arizona. It was my day to drive so after the group left I did one final sweep of the campsite to make sure nothing was forgotten before getting on the road. I had company in the van today as Zach is still with us so we enjoyed some old school songs on my iPod as we got on the road. Let's just say my music collection from HS was merged into my iTunes collection and thus are on my iPod.
At our first water stop just past Tusayan I had Brandt check the van as the speedometer had not been working. After a few minutes he was able to get it working however noticed that the gas seemed low so after making sure everyone was set I headed back to Tusayan to put some gas in the tank. Gas in Tusayan was $3.69, knowing that was a bit on the steep side due to Tusayan being right outside the Canyon I opted to only put enough in to get us to our destination.
The next place I met up with the group was in Valle, Arizona at Flintstone Bedrock City where part of the group stopped to take photos while others stopped across the street to wrestle the giant bear statue and visit the gas station. After stopping for a few minutes at Bedrock City I proceeded on a few miles before pulling over and waiting for the group to catch up, after they passed me I continued on to Red Lake (eight miles outside of Williams) where I waited for everyone before heading into Williams.Once in Williams Zach and I found the church fairly easily and then found the rest of the team at a thrift shop where they were shopping for Christmas in July gifts. For our Christmas in July celebration we had each picked a name out of a hat while in Monticello, UT and had to find a gift for our person under $5.00. Upon hearing what we were doing the woman in the thrift store offered to let us borrow whatever we wanted and told us she would pick it up at our host church the following day. Alex, Allison and I all decided we would dress up for our Christmas in July dinner and each picked out dresses to wear. I also found a CD of Christmas music to play. While I was in the thrift shop Dan arrived and told me that Drew had a flat and needed a lift. I found Drew sitting alongside the road with Keith about six miles outside of Williams patiently waiting for my arrival. After loading Drew’s bike on the roof and giving Keith my cell phone in case he needed anything Drew and I drove on to Williams chalking the way for Keith.
When we arrived back at the Church we found the majority of the team there waiting and were informed that Alex had gotten the Pine Country Restaurant around the corner to donate lunch. We then walked to the restaurant where we were allowed to order anything we wanted for lunch and then pie for dessert! I got a turkey melt for lunch with potato salad and then coconut cream pie for dessert – it was very good and we all left the restaurant full. Before leaving we took a photo with the owner outside the restaurant (photo left) and then headed back to the church. We had been unable to get in touch with the pastor so we hung out on the front steps for awhile letting our food digest and hiding from the rain. While we waited Anish, Nick and Jon went to try and find showers and were successful as the Williams Aquatic Center said we could use their showers. I drove the van over to the Aquatic Center so people could get their stuff out and then walked back to the church to give everyone there directions (it was literally just around the corner). When I got back to the Aquatic Center Anish and Nick were done with their showers so Nick waited with the van while I went in to shower. After I showered I collected everyone’s stuff in the van and headed back to the church.
We were still trying to get in touch with the pastor of the church and I was also waiting for Mark to call from the grocery store as he and Mike were cooking Christmas dinner and had rode their bikes to the store to pick out the food. While I waited I decided to head back to the thrift shop to browse as it was just around the corner. The lady that runs the store recognized me from earlier and asked if we had gotten into the church yet. When I replied that we were still trying to get a hold of the pastor she made a few phone calls and got someone from the church to come unlock it for us as the pastor was not in town. I then headed back to the church once again and shortly after I got there a woman named Julia showed up to open the church. After unloading the van I headed to Safeway to pick up Mark’s dinner groceries and transport them back to the church. While dinner was being prepared I helped Alex do a little Christmas decorating, wrapped my secret Santa gift and got dressed in the black dress that I had borrowed from the thrift store. Alex and Allison also got dressed up in their dresses while Nick was dressed as Santa - white beard and all!Dinner consisted of carrots, greens, rice and chicken with hot apple cider to drink. We then had Mark’s cookies and milk for dessert! After we were done eating we took turns going around the table passing out our gifts. I was Sean’s “secret Santa” and had gotten him a book on Cactus’s from the Grand Canyon, a sesame street Christmas coloring book (he and Andrew had a good time coloring in Hite, UT), crayons, silly putty, a little toy I found that looked like a giant Lego man, and a candy bar. Mike was my Santa and gave me a pair of sunglasses, a Cactus Egg Greenhouse and Sour Jelly Belly’s (Mark’s nickname for me is Sour Sandy). And that was our Christmas in July. Goodnight and Merry Christmas eve!
The following photos are from our Christmas in July celebration.
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