By HENRY COLT
Sentinel Staff Writer
Christmas is a time of family and giving, but it can also be a time of last-minute shopping.
With this in mind, members of the Sentinel staff dropped by Sea Mart this morning to ask Sitkans about their favorite holiday meals.
Sadie Johnson will be making surf and turf: on Christmas Eve, her family will have cioppino, and on Christmas day they’ll have moose. Asked what part of the moose will be served, Johnson said, “That reminds me — I don’t think we’ve pulled it out of the freezer yet!”
Taja and Drew Akstin will be preparing a smorgasbord of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad, deviled eggs, pie, and sweet potatoes for a total of 11 people. But their feast may taste bittersweet because it will lack a familiar component — “this will be the first year that no one’s doing bacon wrapped jalapeños,” Drew said. “We just don’t have time.”
The Sentinel also got a chance to speak with two Sea Mart employees.
Asked how he will be celebrating Christmas, dairy department manager Harry Lysons replied, “Making sure you guys have eggs and milk!” He added that his wife will prepare the prime rib roast that he had already selected from the Sea Mart meat section.
Health and Beauty aisle clerk Twila O’Brien recalled a Christmas mishap: the green bean casserole of 2016. “I don’t even know how to explain it,” she said . “It just wasn’t fully cooked when it came out of the oven.”
Jeremiah Harris, age 12, said his family will keep things simple this year: “We’re going to be cooking steak, and corn.”
Will family members from the Lower 48 join them for Christmas? “No, not many want to come up to Alaska — it’s really cold here compared to Oklahoma,” Harris said.
Then there was John Duncan, 76, who recalled mid-century Christmases at Excursion Inlet, north of Hoonah. “We were the only family in the whole bay,” Duncan said. “Everybody else had moved to Hoonah for the winter.”
He said his mother would prepare “a big deer roast” on Christmas day, but without many side dishes because the nearest store was a 40-mile round-trip away by a 14-foot boat with a 5-horsepower motor. Santa would sometimes bring Duncan a wind-up aluminum boat, but before eating and before presents, he would have to chop wood to heat the family home.
“Even though we were in a camp,” said Duncan, “we had a very happy Christmas living off the land.”
Top, left, Taja, Drew and baby Mason Akstin; right, Sadie Johnson and Sam Horton. Bottom, from left, John Duncan, Harry Lysons, Jeremiah Harris, 12, and Twila O’Brien. (Sentinel Photos)
