Last Friday night, the kids pressing the noses against window glass in downtown Polson weren't looking at prospective Christmas presents. Well, maybe they were, but they also were looking at scenes of living history acted out by local volunteers.

"It's been a lot of fun," said Amanda Berens. The 16-year-old Polson High School student demonstrated how students might have been taught a century ago. She and Medora Lackman, 18 and also from PHS, looked at each other over a piece of slate.

Berens and Lackman are both members of the National Honor Society, which requires its associates to complete a certain number of volunteer hours. Both girls said they enjoyed sitting behind the glass, especially seeing people they knew.

Other, younger volunteers had perhaps one too many cookies before their grand debut as window-sitters. The scouts from troop 1947 started a snowball fight with the plush, cotton "snow" lining their camp.

Outside the windows, there was enough real snow to encourage Main Street pedestrians to slip inside stores for a little cider or hot chocolate — or something stronger. Alpine Tipi hosted a Mint Bar — complete with a scandalously-clad dancing girl. The saloon featured a poker game, celebrated ivory tickler Patty Ferdinand's cheerful tunes and a white-clad bartender who served Carlo Rossi wine.

In front of Glacier Bank, a live nativity scene offered a less recent taste of history. Three wise men — from Pablo, not the Middle East—came bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Chuck Lewis, whose wife Linda Sappington organized the nativity event, jokingly claimed he got "blackmailed" into it. He then talked the other wise men into standing out in the snow in costumes, "one blackmailer to another."

Rebecca and Nicole Lake supplied the nativity with live cattle and goats, who would have eaten away the hay in the manger, if they hadn't been carefully roped out of reach. Children tentatively leaned over to pat the animals while their parents snapped pictures and "Joseph" snapped jokes.

"I'm the original 'godfather'," he said.

The performers behind the windows were inevitably warmer than their outdoor counterparts, especially the 7-year-old Sean Lanier, who, despite the indoor heating, wore a wool hat and sweater. Lanier sat with a pair of wooden skies across his knees, waxing them in a demonstration of ski care before Plexiglas. He also had the chance to listen to music, provided by a group of Fiddlesticks, who played Christmas carols on a variety of stringed instruments.

Finally, for those kids who got tired of history, there was a chance to meet big red himself. Santa Claus sat in his sleigh with children for Christmas card pictures. Though Josh Young hasn't seen many Christmases, the six-year-old already has the routine worked out.

"I want Guitar Hero!" he informed Claus.

From the line of children waiting, it looked like the jolly man was in for some serious overtime.