A Sunday During Holiday Season in Kotzebue

The light has finally arrived today. The wind is blowing snow off the large pile on the lagoon's shore. Huge ravens balance on wind currents, obviously enjoying the cruise. Inside the dishwasher is running and steam erupts from the camp gear kettle. Pouring hot water over lose-leaf, green tea, I steep in the warmth of another cold day in the Far North.

It's quiet outside on this Sunday morning. Residents are either in church or beginning to wake from a long night's sleep. A plane departs the runway across the lagoon on a scheduled flight to one of the other villages. Snow flurries are expected today but as of yet I haven't seen any. Life is taking hold of this subzero day.

During most of the day, Christmas lights can be seen in patterns affixed to power poles, hanging over Third Avenue and on the exteriors of homes. Apartment windows are strung with flashing LED lights and an artificial Christmas tree draws a sharp contrast to the white snow of an occasional front yard. Big red bows and tree boughs, purchased from Alaska Commercial, decorate the front door of an apartment down the way from us. 

This weekend Kotzebue has been filled with holiday shoppers from neighboring villages. The tables were occupied by families waiting for Asian food or burgers at Empress Restaurant when we ate there yesterday. The bustle of Christmas shoppers at A-C was evident as we drove past on Main Street. Cars, four-wheelers and snow machines were parked outside Rotman's while inside lookers and buyers had flooded the store.

Another holiday bazaar took place yesterday at the Senior Center. The month of December is filled with them. Jeannette and I attended two last weekend, purchased handcrafted Eskimo gifts and munched out on enchiladas for lunch at the Catholic Church before heading to the Lions Club for a second holiday bazaar. Various churches sponsor them as well as the girls basketball team and others.

Daily lines out the lobby door are common at Kotzebue's small post office. Turning the key in the lock of our post office box, I have mixed feelings about what the small space may contain each day. While a yellow card indicates a gift or a much-anticipated mail order item, it will surely result in a wait in line for up to an hour before receiving it from a tired and over-worked postal employee at the single open window.

Friday there were two yellow cards in our box: one was a Christmas gift from Rick's parents and the other was a 40-pound box that contained a new flat screen t.v. for Rick. Definitely worth the wait.

Beginning tomorrow many residents will board flights to Anchorage on Alaska Airlines to finish their holiday shopping. The streets of the state's largest city will be filled with out-of-towners looking for unique gifts unavailable in the rural areas. As people from the smaller villages migrate to the larger villages of Kotzebue, Nome, and Barrow, residents of these larger villages will travel to Anchorage or Fairbanks.

With the sound of the dryer in the background, I count the days before our trip Outside. Just nine more days before we fly to the Bay Area to visit my family. Making the last arrangements for lodging and transportation to the Santa Rosa and Lake county areas, the excitement of travel courses through my veins. My heart sighs as the reality of seeing my dad, Tony, siblings, and others sinks in deeper. I look up from my laptop in time to watch the tail of a cargo plane as it turned towards the terminal on a snow-plowed runway. The light remains for another few hours. Hopefully we will make it out to the tundra to see the sunset at 2:49 pm.