Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, December 19, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Students at Tusarvik school in Repulse Bay received a special surprise when school staff organized an early Christmas dinner for the entire student body earlier this month.

Students and staff members have their plates loaded with tasty goodies during an early Christmas dinner held at Tusarvik school in Repulse Bay earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Michael Putulik -

The smell of cooked turkey wafted through the halls of Tusarvik, making mouths water and tummies growl as students followed the tempting aroma to the school gym where a Christmas banquet with all the trimmings awaited them.

Also waiting inside were a group of staff and student volunteers who were all in the Christmas spirit and eager to start serving up the tasty array of holiday goodies that had the eyes of many of the younger students as big as baseballs.

Principal Leonie Aissaoui said the idea came from Repulse Bay being selected to host the annual Calm Air community Christmas dinner in December of 2006.

She said there were still plenty of frozen turkeys left over from the graduation dinner and school staff members wanted to use them to do something special for the students.

"We held our early Christmas dinner in the gym during lunch hour and it was very, very popular with the students," said Aissaoui.

"We had plenty of food for everyone, so all the kids left with a full tummy."

Aissaoui said a number of teachers took a turkey home to cook, and then helped prepare the mashed potatoes and vegetables in the school kitchen the day of the feast.

She said even the breakfast-program cook chipped in to prepare bannock for the meal.

"Everyone gave of their time to help make the meal a success, including our high school students who handled most of the serving.

"The dinner began with an assortment of Christmas songs being played, and then a special grace was said before the meal.

"We had two serving areas set up so the lines would move faster and most of the students would get to eat at the same time.

"We also had a movie playing during the meal so the younger kids wouldn't get bored and start running around."