(Jingle bells ring)

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! I’m Ella Schaaf!

I’m Avery Lichter!

And I’m Violet Bode! Happy Holidays from the “Bear Facts” and all of us at Bishop Garrigan High School.

We have a long tradition on the “Bear Facts” of doing a special survey of Garrigan students at Christmas. One of the questions we asked this year was “What is the nicest Christmas gift you ever got?” Abbie Capesius said the best gift she ever got was her dogs, while Reagan Murphy said her top gift was a TV. Sam Greteman’s favorite gift was his golf clubs, and Ava Snider’s top gift of all time was a new golf cart.

The nicest gift Isaac DeLange ever got was a trip to Mexico, and Kegan Berte remembers getting a trip to Florida. Zoe Montag really liked getting tickets to an Iowa women’s basketball game. Madelyn Bronk still remembers getting a bunch of Zoo Zoo pets when she was a kid, and Eva Snyder enjoyed getting a new sewing machine for Christmas. Tate Foertsch and Kyle Bormann were among lots of boys who said their top gift was an X-box, but Thadd Kollasch said he liked getting a PS4, because PS4 is way better than X-box.

Brody Ludwig said the best gift he ever got was a snowmobile. That’s something he’ll probably be using over the holidays this year. There were also answers like blankets, pets, and gift cards. Ben Greteman said he couldn’t pick just one—his top gift was “all of them”, and Andrew Lichter said the nicest thing he ever got was a hug from his grandma.

Next we asked people what they wanted for Christmas this year. The most popular answer was money, though gift cards were right up there, too. Hanna Merron said she wanted puzzles for Christmas, Ethan Kuper wants a New England Patriots jersey, and Alaina Bormann says that what she’s hoping for is a working car or truck.

Brooke Ludwig says she wants one of those giant Lego flower sets, while Griffin Geving would like art supplies for Christmas. Reece Kemna wants a kitten, Alyssa Haugland would like Ugg slippers, and Gavin Swift says he wants books—lots of them. Amaury Thomas says he wants to eradicate world hunger, and we hope the donations we’ve made this past week will be a small step in that direction.

Devon Berte is hoping to get a guitar for Christmas, while Ava Hough would really like some Airpod pros. Both Drew Muller and Gabe Swift would like new basketballs, and Alaina Casey has a Luke Bryan CD on her list. Ben Greteman says he would like Nebraska to win anything, and Avery Berte says she’d like her speeding ticket to get paid—LOL. Then there’s Violet Bode, who said she wants a hippopotamus for Christmas, and Justin Bauer, who said “all I want for Christmas is you”.

We also asked people what was their favorite holiday food. Brendan Plathe is a fan of Chex mix, Avery Lichter said she liked filet, and Owen Murphy really likes chocolate peanut clusters. Drew Lappe enjoys eating kringla, Molly Peterson ‘s favorites include crab legs and clam chowder, Caden Roethler is a fan of the traditional holiday turkey, and Connor Davis enjoys both ham and turkey.

Scott Bormann says he enjoys fondue at Christmas, and Schyler Morse likes pretzels covered in almond bark with sprinkles. Nick Laubenthal said his favorite food on the holiday spread is brussel sprouts, and Joey Doerning likes her aunt’s wreaths made of green-colored corn flakes with red hots for holly.

Zach Warren feasts on challah bread at Christmas, while Lydia Erpelding likes grean bean casserole. John Waters likes pickle wraps and oreo fluff—hopefully not together. Austin Denker enjoys deviled eggs, Daniel Meis likes mashed potatoes, and Zack Carr is a big fan of pie. Other popular answers included caramel corn, cookie balls, chocolate truffles, and cranberry Sprite.

Our final survey question asked people what their plans were over the holiday break. Gavin Menke was one of several students who said he plans to do absolutely nothing, and Morgan Antoine gave the single most popular answer—saying she’d be spending time with family and friends. Benjy Trainer plans to go snowshoeing in Wisconsin, while Savannah Waechter says she’ll be staying home and watching Christmas movies.

Maggie Vaske says she plans to spend the break baking lots of goodies, while Drew Casey say’s he’s going to relax and read a good book. Lauren Swift’s plans include making an elite gingerbread house, Hailee Reutzel will be dressing cute over the holidays, and Ali Lallier plans to go to multiple family Christmases and also sleep in. Spencer Doerning is visiting family in Cedar Rapids and Nathaniel Darling is heading to Illinois. Garrett Heying has them beat, though, since his holiday plans include a trip to Barcelona and Rome.

Our Senior Spotlight for the holidays shines on Ashlyn Hovey. Here to tell you about her is Brendan Plathe.

Ashlyn Hovey is an Algona native who is probably best known for her accomplishments in sports. She was an all-conference volleyball player, and now she’s draining three-pointers for the Golden Bear girls basketball team. In the past she’s also been in other sports like softball. Ashlyn will be off to college next year, and we wish her all the best in the future.

Thanks, Brendan. Because of the holidays, our Golden Bear calendar is pretty light. Most of the Golden Bears will be at church tonight because it’s Christmas Eve, and of course tomorrow is Christmas Day.

The whole coming week is empty, though practices will begin again next Wednesday. Next Sunday is New Year’s Day. The JJV boys basketball team will play at Forest City on January 2nd. Then on Tuesday the 3rd Garrigan hosts a basketball quad with Forest City.

Classes resume on Wednesday, January 4th. Thursday the 5th the JJV boys host Garner Hayfield Ventura, and the wrestlers will take on Clarion Goldfield.

Friday the 6th is the Feast of the Epiphany. That night there’s a basketball quad with West Hancock at Britt, and then on Saturday the 7th there’s an honor band at NIACC.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for 2022. We’ll be off next week because of the holiday break, but be sure to catch the show two weeks from today. Until then, from all of us at Bishop Garrigan,

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

(Jingle bells ring)