Friday, December 29, 2000

Christmas

Although every child knows there is a hustle and bustle of activity at North Pole City this time of year, few people know of the many goings-on at the other end of the Earth, here in our little village of South Pole City.

Christmas festivities started a week before the big day with a gingerbread house party a week ago Sunday. The Galley crew constructed a basic, unadorned house made of gingerbread for anyone who wanted to decorate one. They also put out an array of candy, cookies, licorice, marshmallows, and other edibles for to decorate them. We cranked up the Christmas music and went to work. There was even eggnog on hand to help set the holiday mood. All in all, the houses tuned out wonderfully and were great decorations for the galley in the week leading up to Christmas and bejeweled the tables as centerpieces for our Christmas Eve feast.

The week before Christmas, classic Christmas movies from the store’s library were popular in all of the movie-viewing venues, and there were several special showings. On Wednesday, the regular movie night, there was a Christmas movie marathon. On Friday, there was a showing of the "The Grinch," (original, of course) and a presentation of all the immortal claymation T.V. specials took place on Saturday night.

A highlight of our Christmas celebration was the Sunday night Christmas Eve Dinner. It was essentially a repeat of our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, but there were a few obvious distinctions.

Both the Galley and the Upper Galley were festooned with Christmas decorations and lights, creating a very warm, Christmas aura. A fully decorated Christmas tree (plastic, of course) and Christmas music added to the ambiance.

The hors d'oeuvres in the Upper Galley preceding the banquet were delicious. "Froze ‘n Harmony," the a cappella quartet which I am a member, tried to do our part to add to the festive mood by singing Christmas carols that we had practiced for weeks. It was the apex of a lot of hard work for us. Practicing in the Skylab lounge four times a week with this wonderful and talented group is something I will never forget. Being able to share our work on Christmas and have it go so well was even better.

Following the hors d'oeuvres, each seating’s throng descended down to the Galley for dinner. All the Poleys in Poleville gathered for the feast. And it was a wonderful dinner of roast beef (not beast). The meal was once again spectacular, and the party went on late into the night.

Early on Christmas morning a group of Poleys met at the ceremonial South Pole. The four of us had formed another a cappella singing group, this time all men. We had been practicing singing in the barbershop style, and what better place to sing barbershop than the ceremonial South Pole, with its red and white barber-pole stripes.

Later that morning, all of the U.S. military veterans on on the station gathered for a ceremony near the South Pole markers. The procedure was quite short, consisting of raising an American flag as well as a POW/MIA flag that was signed by all the vets. The colors were hoisted up a cable on the end of a large crane positioned high into the air over the station.

Many Poleys will tell you their favorite South Pole Christmas tradition is the world-famous "Race Around the World" on Christmas morning. The track for this race is about 3/4 of a mile (1250m) long, but indeed the runners circumscribe the globe on a course set up around the Geographic South Pole.

It is actually a foot race, where the first place man and woman receive a free trip to McMurdo to compete in the "Scott Hut Race" there in January. However, there only seem to be a few people who are truly competing to win. The main goal and minimum undertaking necessary to receive a free "2000 Race Around the World" T-shirt is to finish the race by going around the track three times... by any means desired (but only those on foot can win the prize). A few people ran. Some walked. Others skied. A couple people rode bicycles. Snowmobiles were also a popular mode of transportation, either by driving them or being pulled by one on a sled, pair of skis, or snowboard.

Being sick with a cold, I chose a more leisurely and modish means for completeling the race, and hopped up onto a huge sleigh decked with about five couches and a coffee table. This contraption was towed by a large tracked snow machine. The vehicle pulled us along on the outside of the track, affording great views and photos of the whole event. It was as if we were on moving bleachers, cheering the skiers and runners as we went by. From the beginning, it was certainly a ludicrous spectacle, with such discordant participants flouncing across the snow, making their way around the world. All and all, it was wonderful time so crazy and unique it will be hard to forget.

Later on Christmas Day, many of the stations around Antarctica got together over the radio to share Christmas carols. McMurdo Station's choir, by far the largest on the continent, performed several of their favorite carols. A few other stations sang a few songs. Then came the South Pole's turn. "The South Pole Barbershop Quartet" started our set and then "Froze 'n Harmony" crooned for a while. It was fun to get together with the other stations and share the Christmas spirit.

Is it hard to be so far away on Christmas? Not really. The family of Poleys here are all equally far from home, and though we are always close, we come together even more for the holidays. South Pole traditions are just as rich and meaningful as those at home, and if I can't be at home for Christmas, I can't think of a better place to be than here. Still, I was able to spend Christmas with my family. Since we are on New Zealand time here, almost a full day ahead of the USA, South Pole Christmas was a day earlier than in the States. So on the morning after Christmas here, I used the Internet phone on my laptop computer in my room to call home, where it was Christmas morning. I hadn't opened the gifts my family had sent me and they hadn't yet opened those I sent them. So, from the South Pole I was able to exchange presents with my family on Christmas.

One nice aspect about Christmas at the South Pole is that it's not at all overdone. Here, it felt like Christmas was almost over before it began. Whereas at home it seems Christmas is so commercialized in the stores and everywhere else so early, by the time December 26th rolls around everyone is ready to dispense with the Yuletide festivities. This past week, the decorations have stayed up around station and I have been watching lots of Christmas movies. I guess I felt a little deficient after years of forced overdoses of Christmas. The holidays here are slow and stress-free, like they should be. It surely was a wonderful week.