OUR CHRISTMAS
CELEBRATION
The Christmas season is always a
busy one here a9 well as elsewhere.
Selecting and wrapping gifts for ev
eryone on the island as well as for the
Orphanage family is in itself no small
task. About two week's before Christ
mas the boxes containing Christmas
gifts were brought down from the
storeroom and placed in the sitting
room. When the contents of these
boxes was added to the contents of
parcels received in the Dec. mail the
room looked like a Christmas store.
The”gifts were all in readiness two
days before Christmas, and what re
mained over for another year was
packed ap and stored away.
We had oar Christmas program
scheduled to tak» place at 8 p. m the
day before Christmas. For the ttrst,
time in weeks the inn was s'ill shin
ing at Uo’olook so that the entertan
t was delayed a half hour till
dusk in order that the colored elec
tric lights, which were a part of
the tree decorations, might show to
»d vantage.
The church was hllrrt to capacity,
and the program was excellent Onr
teachers Mr and Mrs. McCain pre
pared the program wi*h the assistance
of Mi»s Morphy and Mine MO'len.
And this work was done without in
terrupting the class work at school.
M'«s Mattgon presided at the organ,
and Miss Murphy had her gymnasi
um class give a Hungarian Christmas
Frolic in costume, which was a pleas
ing number There was not a hitch
in the program which consisted of
songs, recitations, dialogues, exer
cises and d rills.
Tim distribution of gifts took some
little time ms the tree whs heavily
loaded. We are glad that the Christ
man free at the ch irch is becoming
more and more a community affair
each year. That the people on the
island bring theii gifts to the church
for distribution.
After supper all the older boys and
girls and all the ma.rons and teach
ers went to Kodiak to attend the
Christmas entertainment there. It
was a beautiful evei mg and they all
had a nice time.
At the Orphanage on Christmas
morning a beautiful tree loaded with
wonderful gifts from friends from all
over the Btates greeted the children.
Our guests for the day were Messrs
HuddU ' in and Wikle of the Radio
Station and our teachers Mr and Mrs.
McCain and their daughter Miss
Hath. After the gifts were distribut
ed we sat down to a fine dinner pre
pared by Miss Murphy. The din
ning room and tables were very pret
tily decorated by Mrs. lfirkendall
and Miss Mattson, w ith the assistance
of some of the young people.
We are very grateful to our many
friends in the states for all they con
tributed to make the day a happy one
for us all, and we are indebted also to
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Stuart ot Val
dez, Mr. (Jabriel Santo of Seward,
W. J Krskine & Co , O. Kraft & Son
and Chas. Madsen of Kodiak, for
their geuerous gifts.
Some days after Christmas Mrs.
Kirkendall had a Christmas tree at
the Winch Dormitory for the girls,
and Miss Mattson bad one in her
room for the hoys and Miss Murphy
had one in her roonj for the older
girls, so that in ail the clnldten were
recipients of gifts from three Christ
mas Trees.