Community Activities

The Community of White Mountain celebrates the holidays together and hosts activities that allow folks to gather and share their time. After Christmas day has passed there are games and activities held in the community. These are held in the school gym. This year there were two nights of Alani games followed by the Dorcas Party and then one more night of Alani games.
The evenings begin at 7 pm and end about 11 pm. There are door prizes and also candies and small prizes for the winners of the games. The Dorcas Party is similar to the the Alani evening but the party is only for men and women 9th grade and older. No children. This evening is finished with the sharing of baked goods that people bring and a gift exchange (ladies bring a ladies gift and men the opposite which are numbered upon arrival and then numbers drawn at the end of the night). The evenings are wonderful and relaxing with a lot of laughter and visiting going on. The games are fun as you can see. Most of the games are done twice - once for 6th grade on down and then again for 7th grade on up!



















You need to hold the potato between your knees!





















The trash can game.... you interlock arms and try to pull the others into the can - you are out if you touch the can or let go!











































A balancing relay race !










The egg relay!



















Adult/child scooter relay - down to the end of the gym - switch positions and back again!















Door prizes for adults and children are done three times a night. Prizes are put on the floor and if your ticket is called you can choose the one you want!

Lining up to begin the egg toss. There were so many they started out going across the gym and then changed to lengthwise. The winner went the whole length of the gym before breaking their egg!

















































A favorite of both the participants and the crowd is the limbo...










































There are many other games as well: musical gifts, 7/11, Mary and Joseph (like Marco Polo), knockout, piggyback relay, toothpick relay, and blow the bean, etc....
The evenings are fun for all and a great way to spend an evening when it is cold and dark outside!

Christmas Eve Eve

Christmas Eve in White Mountain!!
We have a church service which is followed by a program which is followed by a gift exchange! The church is not a large building but usually there are about 75 folks who attend.





This year our community pastor is out of the village on vacation and we have a visiting pastor, Larson King, from Nunivak Island.












After the service there is a Christmas program that has many different groups of children who have practiced and learned various songs and skits. An elder, Velma Brown, has organized the program for many years.



























We also heard numerous selections from the White Mountain Choir in full and also separately as men and women!















After the program is over people have the opportunity to share greetings that have come from a far, either by phone, card, or email. The evening ends with the passing out of gifts. Presents that are for families, friends, cousins or your pick name have been put under the the tree. The men, high school age and up, grab the presents and shout out the name with a hearty, "Merry Christmas to ..." and pass them out. It is a hectic but happy exercise.

Christmas Eve Day

This year Christmas Eve was super duper special because that was the day Denise came home from Anchorage. Holly and I went up to the airport to pick her up. The airport is quite small and consists of a runway and a maintenance building. In the picture to the right you have a view of short and long term parking...























Here is Holly at the airport and watching Denise's plane land! Excitement was in the air!!























The planes aren't big but they bring in the passengers and the mail. Here is a shot of the agent meeting the plane and getting ready to take the mail to the post office.
























Now with the tree up and the family together we can make the final preparations for Christmas day!!

Hunting for the Tree

The last day of school was Friday the 15th. After lounging around on Saturday Becca suggested we go out and get a tree so Sunday as chosen as the day. The temperatures had come up to about 5 below so it seemed like an opportune time.
So what does it take to find a Christmas tree? It is not as easy as going across town to the tree lot but almost. Obviously we dress warm and get the rigs ready to go, hook the sled on and lets not forget the chainsaw...
I am truly in awe of those folks who grow Christmas trees because they have perfected the art. When you look for trees that grow naturally selecting one is a lot harder than you might imagine. There seems to be so many to choose from but when you get a little closer you find all sorts of problems. You may be looking at a double - two trees growing so close they look like one. You might see a tree that has two trunks. They seem to blend in with each other so well. So you do a lot of cruising around, in and out of meadows, over the tops of willows, searching for that elusive tree.



Usually you think you find it only to get close enough to realize you must have frost in your eye or need to clean your glasses.









But somewhere is the perfect tree. We just need to be silly enough to keep looking and have some fun while we do it.







The one.... We found her very early on but kept looking thinking that we would find a finer tree. But, we had marked the trail and knew where to go back to so here we are! Almost where we started out at... a bit colder but happy that we think we have the tree we want.

So down she comes and in the sled she will go.
The temperatures were good so we did not lose too many needles on the ride home. If it is too cold you can get home and find the bouncing has broken your branches and dropped all of your needles. But we came through in fine fashion and this is our end result!

Thanksgiving and 30 years

Next week is the Thanksgiving holiday. It has been 31 years since I last enjoyed this holiday with the family I was raised with. Yes, the holiday I am remembering of would of been that of my senior year in high school. Ouch!! Since that year I have had 7 Thanksgivings in Colorado and will now have my 24th in Alaska.
My how times have changed... Growing up in New Jersey I remember having turkey and stuffing at 52 Division Avenue. Sitting around the dining table with a turkey on the platter and holding hands to give thanks before the meal. At that time the leaves are still on the ground and some are still falling. It is truly fall.
Today I looked out and saw a pretty sunrise at 9:15 am that was rising up over a frozen river. We have a light dusting of snow and the distant hills are covered.
The temp today said 5 below zero. Yesterday's high was about 10 above and there was a little breeze.
But as I stood in the doorway to take the picture I listened and heard.... not much... I could hear someone splitting firewood across town, I could hear a light wind. There was not any other sounds I could near, no cars, no trucks, no trains.


So what brings all this on.... on the 25th of this month will be the Summit High School Class of 1976 30th Reunion!!! Wow! Is that even possible. I guess so when I settle on the fact that I have a daughter who is turning 21 soon.
I had a great day Oct. 11th when I received an email from a high school friend who had found me by doing a google search. Thank you Eric Dagradi. It was great to hear from you and you started my mind on this journey of time. Since then I have heard from others as well and also gotten the details of the reunion. I so wish I could make the arrangements to attend.
I have yet to go to a reunion due to calendar issues and logistical ones. Although I think it would be a very fun time. They always seemed to fall on times when we had family gatherings.
So here I am this morning... in all my glory 30 years later... this is what I look like right at this instant...Yep, that is me.... this week anyway. For some reason my hair is growing out and have let it keep going. Seems like I do this now about every 3 years or so. When it is not long I usually wear it in a crewcut/flattop . The goatee seems to go every year or so as well. As seen in this picture from fall of 2005.







So, 30 years later and here I am ... still going to a high school every single day and actually spending many more hours in the building now than I ever did when I was 18.
Oh well, life is moving on and we are too whether we want to or not.
But winter is almost here and I do have a new rig to ride so it should be a good one. I hope everyone is having a super fall. I am so thankful that we have the technology to keep in touch with each other and keep people posted on what is happening in our worlds - because truly we are not that far apart. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wintertime is Approaching

Our temps have been in the low single digits lately. Today was about 8 above zero and there as a light breeze about 8 miles an hour.






















Two days ago we got some light snow and Becca decided to take some pictures. These were taken behind the house.
We have about 5-6 inches on the ground but not enough to really go riding about.
We did have the fun of accepting the arrival of two new snowmachines the other day.
An 06 Supersport and an 07 Trail RMK.