STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Santa showed up, alongside Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman.

And the Caritas Chorale treated listeners to carols around an outdoor firepit, even though temperatures in the teens left keyboardist Joel Bejot’s fingers three shades of rosy red.

Spirits ran hot as the City of Hailey hosted its annual Christmas tree lighting.

“I think it’s cool,” said Frosty the Snowman, as he looked around at a bounty of snow left by an early December snowstorm that dumped three feet of snow at Galena Lodge and nearly two feet at Sun Valley.

Hailey is the first to light ‘er up. The City of Ketchum will light its tree at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 7. And Sun Valley Resort will host its tree lighting on Dec. 17 outside the Sun Valley Inn.