(Jingle bells ring)

 Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas, everybody! I’m Betty Straub!

I’m Mark Fakler!

 And I’m Emily Riesenberg! Welcome to a special episode of the “Bear Facts”, where it’s Christmas vacation here at Bishop Garrigan High School!

 Christmas is a time to count our blessings, and we’ve got a lot of those here at Garrigan. One thing we’re excited about is that even with some bad weather the construction project is running well ahead of schedule. Not only are the walls enclosed, but there’s a ceiling covering the new gym. That will allow workers to complete interior work through the winter.

 The quiz bowl team also had an early Christmas gift. While they found the 3—2—1 competition a week ago extremely hard, the team actually ended up doing quite well. In fact, their score of 239 was #2 in Iowa, second only to Class 4-A Davenport Central. They were also well within the top half of teams nationwide.

 Quiz bowl also competed last weekend at the Wolverine Invitational at South O’Brien. Both our varsity and JV teams ended up with 3 – 1 overall records. The Bears’ next competition will be the North Iowa Conference Tournament, which we’ll be hosting on January 31.

 The Golden Bear math team hosted a Great Plains Math League tournament last Saturday, and the Bears ended up in second place overall. So far this season three Garrigan students have qualified for the state math competition in April. Congratulations to Sam Trainer, Kaitlyn Fogarty, and Ben Degen!

 The BGHS choir produced a special concert earlier this month to celebrate the Christmas season. That concert will be re-broadcast this coming week by the local access cable stations on Algona Municipal Utilities. You can watch the entire concert, with subtitles to follow the program next Monday at 6:30pm. It’s a great show, so be sure to tune in and watch it.

Each Christmas on the “Bear Facts” we take a special holiday survey. This year we asked people what their plans were over Christmas vacation. Many are traveling. Kassidy Schiltz and Taylor Illg are going to Florida, Emily Marlow is headed to Arizona, Mariana Pacheco will be in California, Kris McGuire is going to Texas, and Olivia Hall is headed for Cancun. Meanwhile Cady Steinman is going to Minneapolis, and Joseph Espinosa is spending Christmas in Albert Lea.

 Will Kellner wants to do a lot of hunting over vacation, and Frank Reding says he hopes he finds a deer. Cassidy Vitzthum says she’ll be spending the holidays filling out college scholarships, and Nicole Ziemet plans to shop for a prom dress. Zach Boelter wants to meet Santa, Landen Studer says he’ll be eating Christmas cookies, Maddie Keith wants to build a snowman, and Tommy Kollasch says he just wants to screw around, open presents, and do nothing.

 We asked people what gifts they want for Christmas. Drake Buscherfeld was one of many students who said he wants money. Logan Capesius’ Christmas gift was his class ring. Aubrey McEnroe wants skis and ski-related equipment, Livia Miller wants a saddle, and Megan Lappe wants things for college.

 Brittany Arndorfer’s Christmas list includes a Buffalo Wild Wings gift card. Logan Rosenmeyer would like a gun, Sophia Grandgenett hopes to find fuzzy socks in her stocking, and Alex McGurie also wants socks for Christmas. Jacob Berte asked Santa for tools, Andrew Miller wants to find a new pair of moccasins under the tree, and Johanna Vaske wants a cell phone that doesn’t turn off every five seconds and change the language to Chinese. Tony Kollasch says he’ll be thankful for anything he receives, and Emily Baumann says she’s not asking for any gifts, because Christmas is all a bout Jesus.

 We asked what was people’s strangest Christmas tradition. Chase Winkel says it’s eating, while McKaila Cink’s family enjoys ugly sweaters. Parker Schiltz’s family opens their gifts on one bed, and, and Whitney Hovey’s family goes looking for the pickle on the tree. Morgan Frideres’ family celebrates Christmas in the fall, Ben Vaske’s family has a Wii tournament after opening presents, and Betty Straub’s family has a boys vs. girls Trivial Pursuit game. 

 Danielle Plathe’s family drinks apple cider while watching The Christmas Story, and Olivia Vaske says her family is strange in general. Then there’s Emerald Shipler, who plays “ooga booga” (a caveman game) with her family every Christmas.

 Our last questions was what was people’s best Christmas memory ever. John Zeimet said it was getting a dog, while Maddie Sullivan remembers opening a box that made a noise and having a cat jump on her. Olivia Hart remembers going sledding at Christmas. Emory Miller remembers playing in Grandma’s basement with all the toys she got, and both Jacob Thul and Emily Riesenberg said their best Christmas memory is just being with family.

 Patrick Marlow remembers one Christmas when everyone in his family except him got sick. Logan Besch’s favorite Christmas was the year he got a phone, and Reece Wadle remembers Santa bringing him a Hot Wheels race track. Dorothy Kirsch remembers having a bonfire on Christmas night, and sitting around eating chicken dumpling soup. Then there’s Kelsey Hovey, who said no memory stands out—she just likes every Christmas!

Our Senior Spotlight for the holidays shines on Tony Kollasch. Here to tell you about him is Kaitlyn Fogarty.

 Tony Kollasch is a Whittemore native who has run at state in both cross-country and track. Tony also is a three-year veteran of national quiz bowl, and he’s active in choir, band, drama, speech, math team, Christian Leadership, and intramural basketball. You’ve also probably heard him announcing on the “Bear Facts” or nights or weekends on KLGA. Tony will be off to college next year, and we wish him all the best in the future.

 Thanks, Kaitlyn! Our Golden Bear calendar is pretty empty, and that’s the way it should be for the holidays. There’s basketball at Garner this afternoon, and we remind you to catch the choir concert on cable next Monday at 6:30pm.

 On Saturday, January 3, Garrigan will face Algona High in the holiday basketball classic. Sunday is the Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and classes begin again on Monday, January 5.

 Semester tests will be Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, January 7, 8, and 9. On Friday the 9th the Bears will host North Union in a basketball quad, and the math team will serve a spaghetti supper at the game.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for 2014. We’ll be off for the next two weeks because of Christmas vacation, but be sure to join us again on Saturday, January 10, 2015, when we’ll be back with more news from Bishop Garrigan High School. Until then, …

(jingle bells ring)