Tis the season..

One of my Pedro Bay Christmas memories is gathering at the Council Building to go Christmas caroling around the village. It was a very COLD evening. I can't recall how many degrees below zero but it was very nippy and there was a lot of snow. It looked and felt like it was going to be a white and wintry Christmas. We finished singing and as I walked home I thought the air felt warmer. When I got home I watched my thermometer needle move quickly to the right as the temperature increased from -20 to +40 in a very short time. Instead of a white Christmas, it was a very slushy, mushy and wet one. But a merry Christmas just the same.

Roz Goodman

In 2004, we were in the process of finishing our new house. We still had bare plywood floors, but we wanted to have the feel of the Christmas season. We went out and cut a tree and put it in the living room right in front of the big windows on the bare floor. Besides decorating the tree, we strung lights outside from the edge of the porch. Then being able to enjoy the Christmas program put on by the kids, under Nancy's direction, at the church, having the Christmas carolers come, and topping it off with Christmas dinner with Marge and Carl, made it one of the most memorable Christmas's ever. Being able to enjoy festivities with other people who share the true meaning of Christmas, our Savior’s birth, is a great memory.

Jerry and Karen Pippen

Back in the “Good Old Days”. of course those days are only “good” to those who remember them that way, the radio was pumping out a song titled “Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier” Most of us kids here in the village walked around singing the song at the top of our lungs. I believe none of us had any idea who this fella was but the words and melody was very catchy! Well it so happened that my sisters were working out in Anchorage that winter and caught the Davy Crockett fever also! As Christmas day dawned I went downstairs to see if I had gotten my new pair of jeans or perhaps a new shirt from Santa. Lo and behold! I had a number of gifts under the tree! That Christmas I received a Davy Crockett Jacket with fringe, a coon skin cap and a Davy Crockett air gun. The wild frontier of Pedro Bay had a new king!!!!!

John Foss

One of my best memories of Christmas in Pedro Bay was way back in grade school when Irene Carlson was my teacher. She had previously been overseas to China (I believe) and brought back all these amazing thin papers and a book on Origami. We spent a lot of time making ornaments from that book. She had us make beautiful ornaments, as we made placemats for the community potluck and all kinds of neat decorations, she reassured each and every one of us, that ours was truly the most beautiful she had ever seen. As we made stuff, she would tell us about Christmas and what it meant in other places around the world. She made sure that the cooks made goodies for us to snack on, and sometimes that was cake and juice, or we would have a taffy pull. The school smelled of glue and glitter, cake and kool-aide, and her talking in that very authoritative, but caring voice. She made me believe in Christmas traditions and the meaning of Christmas, but to also appreciate that there are other cultures that have equally important traditions as my own. She brought in special goodies on occasion, and slipped me a candy when I thought I was the only one getting one. I often wonder if she was slipping candies to everyone else and we all thought we were the only ones! It truly makes me smile. She made that Christmas and many more very special and memorable in my young life, and I will always remember that.

Karla Jensen


One of my most favorite, most memorable Christmas's would have to be...when we had gotten back from Anchorage, after Autumn was born. Because, we had a Christmas that was truly amazing. It was not just some "regular" Christmas get together, it was a memory that will always be with me, no matter where or what happens. It was Christmas morning; I came running out all excited, at like 6 am in the morning. I ran into my parent’s room, and flew onto their bed like a bird freed from prison bars. I tried to wake them up, my dad was still asleep. My mom (Karla), woke up and told me to go back to sleep, saying it was too early. "but mom? it’s Christmas!" she told me that I needed to go back to bed, and that we would open presents later. Daddy was awake by then, so he got up, Mommy got the baby (Autumn), and we all headed out to open Christmas gifts. I will never forget that b-e-a-u-t-I-f-u-l little smile that was on Autumn's face as she opened her presents. I remember exactly what she looked like, exactly what she smelled like, and exactly what she did. She was in her cute little PJ's...and she smelled of warm milk...and stinky diapers...lol...she was sitting on the floor watching us open gifts, and when we put a present in front of her, she just looked at us. as if she was saying "what am I supposed to do again?"...it was the funniest little thing ever, watching her stare go from us to the gift. After we had opened Christmas presents, she used to have this little chair that was in the shape of a yellow car, it had small toys attached to it. And it was on springs, so she could jump up and down as much as her little feet would let her...lol...she would do that for hours, it was always so cute to watch her. Her little legs just pushing off the floor, with a smile on her face that was just so adorable. She was so cute, that it just made me want to eat her up and dip her in my coffee....lol....she also had a swing, that was attached to the ceiling, it was like bungee jumping, it had bungee cords connected to it, so when she jumped it would make her fly all over the place. I remember sitting on the floor, opening presents, in my red and green PJ's...they were made of fleece, so they were really itchy...lol...but I wore them anyways..because they were also REALLY warm at night. Just seeing that HUGE smile on her face was like opening a door to a room filled with diamonds...but seeing her little smile was even better then diamonds. I always loved to kiss her little tiny cheeks, they were so soft. she was just the most adorable little thing ever! lol..she still is, but now she is 7 years old. and just a mischief little thing..naw, just kidding...lol..thats my most memorable Christmas ever..MERRY CHRISTMAS YA'LL!!!!!!!!!!:D

Chelsea Jensen-Roehl

My favorite Christmas was last year (2005), we had a nice tree, there were lots of presents and we got to go ice skating.

Autumn Jensen-Roehl