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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The holiday season conjures up warm memories of embracing family members, sitting by the Christmas tree or wassailing merrily from one Christmas party to another.

Kyla Schauerte and her fiance Chris Dawe celebrated their engagement last Christmas. - photo courtesy of Kyla Schauerte

Yellowknifer hit the streets over the weekend to ask residents about Christmas treasures past.

Krista Schauerte, 17, who some may recall won a 2009 Chevrolet Aveo at last spring's Hands of Hope contest for keeps her hands planted onto the vehicle for more than 43 hours straight, holds Christmas memories just as dearly. She said last year contains her best Christmas memories because that's when her sister Kyla got engaged.

"We don't get to see her much so it is always exciting," said Krista.

"Her fiance wrote a proposal in the snow last year and then they went for a walk. It was Christmas Eve and it was really exciting."

Kyla, who will be returning home from law school in Edmonton next week, admitted she doesn't get home much but last year was "absolutely" the fondest in her memory as well. Her dad usually puts Christmas lights up in the backyard every year, but last year's was complemented with a sign in the snow reading, "Will You Marry Me?"

"It was really nice to have my family all there to share (the engagement) with," said Kyla, adding she and her fiance plan to get hitched in Jamaica next December. "I don't live (in Yellowknife) anymore and it was nice to run inside and have your sister and mom and dad."

Other Yellowknifers hold warm memories surrounding holiday traditions they have always held. From her years growing up, Carol Norris said she has enjoyed carrying on the tradition of everyone in her family opening one gift on Christmas Eve. Now with three children, Norris says she and her husband Kevin remember Christmas 1996 as the one that stands out.

"There was one year when I surprised my husband with a snowmobile," Norris recalled. "He had no idea and thought he was getting a CD player because I had the key wrapped in a CD box."

In another case, Karin Clark recalls with her husband Shane the wintery scene that accompanies the family's annual holiday outing to their remote cabin about 20 km north of Yellowknife. Clark said the outings began about 10 years ago when her three children were young.

"When the kids were small, we would wrap them up in blankets and put them in a Rubbermaid bin in the toboggan behind the Ski-Doo," she recalled, noting how the bin had a lid that would close the kids inside.

"The thing I remember was that it was a beautiful evening before Christmas. We had all the presents in the toboggan, we had the kids in the Rubbermaid bins and the snow was hanging on the trees over the trail. So there was a full moon and the snow was all sparkly and we were Ski-Dooing in a tunnel of snow and bush out to our cabin."

Youngsters in the community who have fewer Christmases to remember tap into warm holiday feelings from the gifts they received last year.

"Last year, I got two helicopters and a hockey stick and my Aunt Brenda came up from Toronto to visit for the holidays," said 10-year-old Ethan Anstey. He said he is still using the toy helicopters, which are remote controlled. He described one as being a large army aircraft with two propellers, while the other one is small and reddish with one propeller.

Similarly, Marshella Ford connected her fondest memory with a gift she had always wanted.

"Getting an iPod for Christmas last year from my parents," she said. When asked why that made her so happy, she said matter of factly, "Because I had wanted an iPod."

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