Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Bagley Family! We hope your holiday season has been full of good cheer and happiness.

We wanted to share some of our favorite family Christmas traditions with you.

From Jessica:

Mom wouldn't let us open presents until we had a really nice beautiful breakfast in front of the tree. Mom and Dad wanted us to take her time and take in the spirit of the morning. (Breakfast was usually muffins, eggs, sausage, and hot chocolate, yum!) Also, we usually chopped down our own tree. It wasn't always the prettiest tree. One time we called our tree the Burning Bush, because it looked like a bush.

From Chelsea:

Past traditions: I remember that when it was just Jessica and I in the house, we always slept under the Christmas tree the night we put it up. I loved that. I loved going to get a Christmas tree with Dad. Sometimes it was just me and him and the snow mobile because no one else wanted to go because it was too cold. Current traditions: I have a collection of really wonderful Christmas picture books and I read one each night until Christmas, kind of like an advent calendar. But the best tradition we have now is flying out to the west every Christmas Eve to see our families that we love so much!  

From Trisha:

Growing up we traveled a lot for Christmas. We visited grandparents in California many times. One year we thought we were staying home for Christmas and the last gift we were given was train tickets to San Diego. And we were to leave in a few hours. That was a fun one! One tradition we had when our kids were younger is a scavenger hunt with the gifts from Santa. We would only have one or two gifts under the tree and the rest were stashed around the house for them to find. It as a ton of work for us, aka Santa, but it was fun!  

From Korinne:

In the beginning when Trisha and I were young, we would write a letter to the elves telling them what we wanted for Christmas and then burn it in the fireplace. We were told that the elves could read the smoke and would maybe grant our wishes. A few years we roasted chestnuts on the open fire. It is a thing. We got to open one present on Christmas Eve - it was usually PJ's. I loved singing songs with our dad playing the guitar. We always had a nice big breakfast before we could open up any presents. As for traditions with my own family, I love Christmas Eve and having a musical program based around Luke 2. We try to do a variety of service throughout the Christmas season. My husband makes sugar cookies with the kids and they cut fun shapes with them. We play chimes (see video below!). And we always put a large Star of David on our roof. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtA0x9SlV_g

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all our Flat Creek Inn friends! 

P.S. If you still need a gift idea, give someone the gift of a trip to Jackson Hole and stay at the Flat Creek Inn! Best. Gift. Ever.