Christmas Games

 Wednesday, December 24, 2014.

Merry Christmas from Cambridge Bay!

Unlike the rest of Canada, we are guaranteed to have a white Christmas here in Cambridge Bay. There isn't that much snow on the ground, but, it is very dry and blows around a lot. We have blizzards even when it's not snowing. The unpaved streets are all frozen hard, white and clean. None of that salt-induced winter slush and brown mess usual in the southern winter. You might think it would be depressing this time of year what with the snow, cold and long, dark days, but, there are ways to cope and get into the Christmas spirit. There are no malls here, just two small stores, so, rather than a shopping frenzy, people enjoy two full weeks of Christmas Games and celebrations instead. You'd think that the weather would keep most people indoors, but, there's a good turnout to most events which are held in the community centre, high school gym and arena.

G. decided to volunteer to help out with the Games and has ended up with his hands full. The Games are scheduled nightly between 7-11 p.m. and are well attended.

G. in his volunteer's hat

Games are held for both adults and youth, including very young children. The young kids are bursting with energy and just keep going and going and going until after 11 most nights. The adult games are maybe not so impressive. G. said that seeing Elders playing air guitar won't be one of his cherished memories of our time here. Speaking of Elders, they really do seem to have a special status in the community. Not sure what age you have to be to qualify as an Elder, but, I suppose we're nearly there. A lot of the Elders still dress traditionally and I am truly amazed at the artistic beauty and quality of the handmade garments.

Elders Palace, makes getting old sound special?

Younger people dress the modern way, parkas and jeans mostly, but, the young mothers all wear traditional amautiks which are parkas with a large pouch at the back for baby carrying inside. Keeps the baby warm, leaves the hands free and makes good sense. I've yet to figure out how they get the baby in/out though.

There are events other than Games. We attended the kickoff Community Feast. It was a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. In addition, there were a few unusual (to our taste) treats. There were huge, nicely browned, caribou ribs, but, there were also squares of raw, frozen Arctic Char and raw caribou meat on offer. The Arctic Char looked like luscious squares of Turkish Delight until you looked a little closer. We gave it a pass, but, others partook appreciatively. The other unusual thing about the Feast was that there were no tables and chairs on offer. There were a few chairs around the outside walls for Elders. The rest of us sat in little groups on the floor.

There are outdoor events as well, including ice and snow sculpting, fireworks on ice New Year's Eve and Games on ice, New Year's Day. We'll have prime viewing for the ice events from aboard Tandberg Polar.

This family went all out for the ice sculpture contest.

Also, although not an officially sanctioned event, like anywhere Canada, in spite of the dark and cold, Cambridge Bay teens like to hang out on street corners at night. There is a consistently large group of teens hanging about in front of the convenience store, woefully underdressed and playing impromptu games of parking lot shinny, in the dark, in -35C temperatures. Guess you have to be born here to get used to it! It's hard to imagine, coming from an area of beautiful Carolinian forest in southern Ontario as we do, to realize that a child can grow up here and never see a single tree, hear raindrops on leaves, or, smell the warm, spring earth that leads to summer vegetables and flowers.

We were really looking forward to the Talent Show. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a washout and had to be cancelled when almost nobody showed up. The community's radio Bingo show had been changed to coincide with the night of the talent show and well, it was a $5,000 Bingo, so you can guess where most people were. The Bingo night had had to be changed because it conflicted with "Ladies' Night at the Northern" (Christmas bargains at the Northern Store for one night only, there was a men's night too). Too many events, too little time and the talent show was the loser. From now to New Year's, it's mostly just free skating and nightly Games until Sunday's pancake breakfast and then the New Year's events. More to look forward to next week.

We will have a quiet, traditional turkey dinner tomorrow. We were able to source almost all ingredients here. I had brought cranberry sauce all the way from the UK because I wasn't sure we'd be able to get it here. We had missed out on it the Christmas we were in Norway and I wasn't going to be caught again. Of course, they had shelves of it here. Should have thought of the mincemeat though. I searched both stores high and low and finally found a couple of really dusty jars way in the back. $10 a jar, but, when you're desperate for a mince tart, you'd pay anything! Alas, brussels sprouts were nowhere to be found, so we're having some rubbery broccoli instead.

Merry Christmas to all!