The Bear Facts
December 22, 2012
(Jingle bells ring)
Ho! Ho! Ho! Good morning! I’m Andrew McGuire!
I’m Thomas Bradley!
I’m Allison Frideres!
I’m Grace Steil!
And I’m Zac Kibby! Welcome to a special holiday edition of the “Bear Facts”. Merry Christmas from everyone here at Bishop Garrigan high school!
Christmas vacation is here. School will be off for the next week and a half, as everyone enjoys time with their families over the break. Garrigan will be off for Christmas and New Year’s, and classes will resume again on Thursday, January 3rd.
We have a long tradition on the “Bear Facts” that every Christmas we give a holiday survey to Garrigan students. This year we began by asking people “What are your plans over Christmas vacation?” By far the most common answer was spending time with family and friends. Some people are traveling—to a wide range of places like Jamaica, Canada, Nebraska, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Florida, Minnesota, and even Ankeny.
Andrew McGuire says he’ll be watching a Marquette basketball game live in Milwaukee. Nicole Behr says she’s “going to eat a lot and have a jolly ole’ time with her fam’.” Brittany Arndorfer is going to the ISU bowl game, Tony Kollasch is going to shovel snow and watch Les Miserables, Michael Berke says he’s going to study for semester tests (yeah right!), Chris Loss says he’s going to hibernate, and Nicole Mergen plans to gain fifty pounds from all the food she’s going to eat.
Other Christmas plans include fishing, making cupcakes, relaxing, visiting family, and spending time with friends. Lots of people will be working over Christmas vacation, and others will be busy with basketball practice. Will Kellner and plans to go hunting, science teacher Beany Bode will be building a greenhouse, and “Dirty Dave” Klein says he wants to play in the snow. Then there’s Elliot Boisjolie, who says he plans to “give Jesus the best birthday party ever”.
We asked people what they wanted for Christmas, and there was a wide range of answers. The most popular choices included laptop and tablet computers and other electronics. Money was also very popular. Maddie Keith was one of several girls who wanted Ugg boots, while her sister Mackenzie wants a car stereo. Other people’s Christmas lists included a baseball bat, a snowmobile, Beats headphones, and even a baby brother.
Exchange student Sia says he wants a snowball. Coming from Thailand, he’d never seen snow until this week. Sarah McCall wants a winter coat and sneakers. Alissa Kirsch would like a horse, and Logan Rosenmeyer wants a truck. English teacher Mary McCall gave the same answer as several students when she said she already has everything she needs. Then there was Reece Wadle, who said, “All I want for Christmas is you!”
We asked people what was the best Christmas gift they ever got. Brittany Arndrofer’s favorite gift was a Kindle Fire, Jacob Berte really liked getting traps, Savanah McNertney’s top gift was a new Jeep, Sarah McCall really liked the Guitar Hero game she got in 7th grade, and math teacher David Burrow still remembers getting a Fred Flintstone punching bag back when he was in kindergarten.
Other all-time favorite gifts include Ipods, jewelry, game systems, a bow and arrows, a four-wheeler, rollerblades, a scooter, and a ukulele. Logan Besch’s favorite gift was his first phone, Neal Koob said the best gift he ever got was the gift of life, and Maddie Keith says her best gift will be the dog she’s getting this year. Morgan Hanna liked getting a TV, Miss McCall liked getting a Kitchen Aid mixer, Mariah McCall got a Barbie as tall as she was, and Reece Wadle remembers his Huffy bike. Michael Berke said “they’re all the best to me”, while Nicole Ziemet said the best gift was still to come.
We also asked people about the worst gift they ever got. The #1 answer was socks, with underwear close behind. Connor Langermann once got just one sock, with nothing to match it. Andrew Miller’s least favorite gift was an orange; while Tony Kollasch, Kelsey Hovey, Mallory Schiltz, and Harli Eggers all got toothbrushes for Christmas. Neal Koob remembers crying after getting a book about Christmas trees, Betty Straub got an I.O.U., and Sarah McCall remembers getting the Joan of Arc movie.
Several students have gotten coal in their stockings. Other unpopular gifts include Christmas ornaments, ugly sweaters, a unicorn shirt, gum, a globe, pens, a tooth holder for holding teeth when the tooth fairy came, left-handed golf clubs for a right-handed person, and the flu. In spite of what other people said, though, Maddie Keith’s response was that she’d never gotten a bad present. All her gifts have been good.
Our final question was “What’s your family’s strangest Christmas tradition?” A lot of people said they didn’t have any strange traditions, but we know better. Lots of people watch various Christmas movies. In fact Andrew and Alex McGuire said their family has memorized every single line of Christmas Vacation from watching it so much. David Klein’s family leaves cookies out for Santa, while Allison Frideres’ family puts carrots on the lawn for the reindeer.
Among the other traditions are playing football in the snow, singing karaoke on Christmas Eve, choosing the ugliest Christmas tree they can find, and taking a lap around the pool table after getting an awesome gift. Twin brothers Zach and Tony Kollasch always give each other the same gift--$20—for Christmas, Andrew Miller always wrestles with his brothers and wins, and in Taylor Illg’s house it’s not Christmas unless they have chocolate milk with their meal.
When he’s home in Madrid exchange student Santiago Schmidt keeps up the Spanish tradition of eating twelve grapes as the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. Mallory Schiltz’s family has a tradition of exchanging a singing Grinch statue among the family. Finally there was Johanna Vaske, who said they don’t really have strange traditions, just a strange family overall.
Our Senior Spotlight for the holidays shines on Matthew Fakler. Matthew is an Emmetsburg native who is active in band, choir, speech, drama, and quiz bowl. His loves music and is an accomplished musician on several instruments. Matthew will be off to college next year. We wish him a Merry Christmas and all the best in the future.
Our Golden Bear calendar is pretty much empty for the next week and a half, since we’ll be off with Christmas vacation. School starts up again on Thursday, January 3rd, and that Friday the Bears will travel to Clarion for a basketball quad.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for Christmas. Thanks for listening, and we wish everyone the very best of holidays and a wonderful new year!
EVERYONE: Merry Christmas, everybody!
(Jingle bells ring)
JASONR12/18/12
