(Jingle bells ring)

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! I’m Tate Foertsch!

I’m Graclyn Eastman!

I’m Harper Nelson!

I’m Shiloh Trainer!

I’m Lucy Eisenbarth!

I’m Sacha Alesch!

I’m Kayden Graves!

I’m Alyssa Haugland!

I’m Hailee Reutzel!

I’m Ava Snider!

I’m Carley Nielson!

And I’m Emmi Bartolo! Season’s Greetings from all of us at the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

As we got ready for Christmas vacation we had a special out-of-uniform day yesterday at Garrigan. We could pay to wear jeans or sweats, with the money going to help both Divine Mercy’s twin parish of St. Jeanne de Chantal in Haiti and the missions our school has supported in Morton and Okolona, Mississippi. This year we’ll also have a new mission project. Next summer a group of seniors will be headed to Guatemala to help people who are in need there. We also encourage people in the community to support all of these missions.

While some other schools are out for the season, we have one more day of school at Garrigan and Seton next Monday. This afternoon we’ll also be hosting the big crosstown holiday basketball game. The JV games will start at noon. The varsity girls will play at 1:15, and the varsity boys should start around 2:45. There’s always a big crowd for this match-up, so we encourage everyone to get there early.

There’s lots of other Christmas traditions at Garrigan. In addition to the band and choir concerts, this past week fifth graders went caroling around the school building, and sixth graders sang carols at Algona Manor. The seniors in Spanish class celebrated “las posadas” with first graders, and the dance team had their Christmas performance joined by Santa and elementary kids when the Bears played Garner—Hayfield—Ventura last Tuesday.

A tradition we have here at the “Bear Facts” is giving a special Christmas survey to students every year. One of the questions we asked this year was “What is your favorite holiday food?” Gabe Swift, Kyle Bormann, Gibson Menke, Henry Bode, and Alec Deitering all liked ham. Alyssa Haugland enjoys wings, Gabbie Buscher prefers chicken alfredo, and Hailee Reutzel is looking forward to a seafood boil. Carter Schwab and Leo Snyder said shrimp, Eli Casey prefers sardines, and Jenna Peterson enjoys crab legs with melted butter.

For the side dishes, Hayden Miller, Stormi Larson, Shelia Reding, and Weston Ehlers all like mashed potatoes and gravy. Matt Besch and Gibson Menke prefer cheesy potatoes, and Bryden Morse’s favorite is sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Madelyn Tigges and Emma Garman enjoy stuffing, and Aubrey Meyer, Bree Ludwig, and Alice Casey are all fans of mac and cheese.

Lots of people wanted sweet treets, and some were very specific. Addy Laubenthal likes her great-grandmother’s Amish sugar cookies, while Rachel Kahle likes her aunt’s Christmas cookies. Emmi Bartolo prefers star cookies, Shiloh Trainer likes her mom’s homemade wreath cookies, and Kiah Villareal enjoys monkey bread. Tate Foertsch says the best Christmas food is oreo balls—no discussion. Addison Kuper, Karson Sidles, and Ava Roethler all like oreo fluff, and Eva Kohlhaas is looking forward to oreo cheesecake.

Another of our questions was “What is the best Christmas present you ever got?” For me the obvious answer was my state championship ring. Sawyer Herrick, Leo Snyder, and Jacob Reding all said their best gift was their family. Sean Thilges, Marshall Bormann, and Tate Foertsch all said their top gift was an X-Box. Amaury Thomas said a PS-5, and Addy Laubenthal liked her Nintendo Switch. Alyssa Haugland and Alice Casey both said their top gift was a TV, and Noah Schafer loved getting a four-wheeler.

Jaelyn Antoine and Ava Snider enjoyed getting concert tickets, and Kollyn Wiemers and Gibson Menke both liked their new hunting guns. Delaney Fessler—Arndorfer’s favorite gift was a new puppy, and Jenna Peterson liked her pet turtle. Joey Lallier said a giant stuffed giraffe, Mike Joyce loved getting new basketball shoes, Avery Culbertson’s best gift was a new phone, and Jayden Deike liked her full-length mirror that holds jewelry, Emmi Bartolo liked her American Girl doll, and Aubrey Meyer said a jet ski. Then there’s C.J. McGregor, who said his best gift was a two-pound allowance in wrestling. That lets him enjoy more of those Christmas cookies he likes.

Next we asked what people want this Christmas. Cora Deardeuff said a big jar of dill pickles … and world peace. Kyle Bormann, Joey Lallier, Ava Roethler, Jaelyn Antoine, Aubrey Meyer, Kiah Villareal, and Stormi Larson all want new clothes. Eli Casey and Bryden Morse want Legos, Adrienne Kuper is asking for nail polish, and Addy Laubenthal wants band and movie posters. Sawyer Herrick wants a snowmobile helmet, and Hayden Miller is looking for disc golf stuff.

Hope Rooney’s list includes a heated blanket. Emmi Bartolo says her most wanted gift is a stuffed penguin, and Hailee Reutzel wants a Macbook for nursing school. Kayden Graves hopes to find gift cards in his stocking. Gabbie Penton and Jenna Peterson say they want concert tickets, while Jayden Deike hopes to get a dog for Christmas. Carley Nielson wants a purse and perfume, Weston Ehlers wants golf shoes, and Amaury Thomas says he wants 20 pounds of pure muscle. Then there’s Alec Deitering, who says he wants a Rolex. Don’t hold your breath on that!

Our final question was “What are your plans over Christmas?” Karson Sidles is one of many people who will be spending time with family. Lots of others will be working. Harper Nelson specifically said she’ll be working at Teresa’s selling girls their prom dresses. Sheila Reding will be working at Holmes Animal Clinic on Christmas Day, and the rest of the break she’ll be cat-sitting and working on 4-H projects. Gibson Menke says he’s going to Dubuque to get dirt bike parts, and Madelyn Tigges is going shopping in Des Moines.

Alice Casey says she’s sleeping in, Piper Roethler is going to relax over the holidays, Caiden Buckner says he’ll be taking a break, and Amaury Thomas says he’ll probably just play X-box for two weeks straight. Gabe Swift says he’ll be a bum, Aiden Lichter plans to sleep a lot and eat a lot, and Karson Kramer says he’ll be hanging out with his girlfriend. Emmi Bartolo plans to play basketball over break. Several other people are travelling over break—to Florida, Texas, Minnesota, and Arizona.

On our Golden Bear calendar, Garrigan and Seton do have school next Monday, but there’s parish busing because the Algona Community Schools aren’t in session. Otherwise the calendar is empty all the way through New Year’s.

On Friday, January 2nd, the Bears will host North Iowa in basketball, and there’s a wrestling tournament in Osage on Saturday the 3rd.

Classes resume Monday, January 4th. The Golden Bear swim team has their home meet that night. There’s also girls wrestling vs. Lake Mills and boys JV wrestling at Mason City.

On Tuesday the 6th there’s a basketball quad at Forest City, and the swim team will be at Mason City. We’ll have semester tests the 8th and 9th. On Thursday the 8th the basketball teams will host Lake Mills, and there’s also wrestling vs. Webster City.

First semester ends Friday the 9th. The Bears will host West Hancock on the basketball court that night, and the dance team will serve a chili supper during the games.

Finally this week we want to give a big congratulations to senior basketball player Carter Schwab. When the Bears played Garner last Tuesday Carter went over 1,000 career points. Congratulations on reaching this big milestone.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for 2025. We’ll be off for the next two weeks because of the holiday break, but be sure to tune in on January 10, 2026, when we’ll be back with more news from Bishop Garrigan High School. Until then …

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!

(Jingle bells ring.)