Yellowknife (Dec 12/03) - Students paid close attention to Lauren McKiel as he spun tales of Christmas past this week.

McKiel and seniors Mabel Collinson and Arlene Yaceyko, became surrogate grandparents as they visited city classrooms to read from a new collection of Christmas stories.

"A book of Christmas Memories," was compiled by members of the Yellowknife Seniors Society to share simpler holiday times the elderly remember.

"Christmas was simpler then. Not so commercial," said McKiel, who read a story about a Christmas he spent in Cape Dorset in 1968.

Weledeh Catholic school students were enthralled as he told them about the year Santa was late because the local airline wasn't able to fly gifts to the community in time for Dec. 25.

The three seniors say they feel like grandparents to the students, since many kids don't have grandparents in Yellowknife.

"They don't have the extended family to hear stories from," said McKiel.

Grade 3 student Cheyenne Lafferty wanted to hear more stories from the book.

"We already know that we like it, so we want to read more," she said.

The Seniors Society will visit all the city's schools to share the stories before Christmas. Each school received a copy of the book to add to their libraries.