For some reason I have almost no memories of the Christmas 1976 holiday...perhaps because I didn't take any pictures. I know we had a great dinner, and I did receive some great gifts in the mail from family...and we did NOT have one of those gift exchanges that have become popular/infamous in more recent years. Nor did we have a Race Around the World...that event would be invented three years later by Martha Kane Savage and Casey Jones. I didn't take any pictures, and I haven't found any from anyone else (hint). But I do know we had a football game on Christmas day...it was science vs support. I did participate of course, and it was great fun!

Here's an action shot from Tadashi Yogi.

I don't recognize anyone in the above picture...but I'm thinking that the science team is on defense (left) since they had some help from our Navy contingent.

Here's another view from Rob Hamilton. Oh...the beakers won!


The winning team photo, fully autographed, courtesy of Rob Hamilton.

Back row from left: Stu Harris, Gary Rosenberger, John ?, Evan Noveroske, ?, Rusty Kapella, ?

Front row: Rob Hamilton, Bruce Morley, Craig Whan, Tony Quayle, Jim Fletcher, Lloyd Anderson, ?. Rob said that most of the unidentified folks were short-term Kiwi service members, mainly weather guessers, who weren't around on Thanksgiving.

[A historical note...the first Pole Bowl was held on Thanksgiving Day, 22 November 1962 between members of NMCB-8 and the USARP scientists (documented here by Navy photographer Ernie Mrozek in this November 2012 Tri-City Times (Imlay, MI) article (archived page). At some point after 1976 the Pole Bowl tradition died out, as there was no game when I next returned to Pole in time for Christmas in 1986.]

I do remember some of the New Years festivities...on New Years Eve a bunch of us celebrated in comms...opening a bottle of champagne at some appropriate moment. The cork put a significant dent in the ceiling, which some of us autographed. When I returned in the late 80's the dent was still visible, and although the ceiling had been repainted, the signatures were faintly visible as well.

After that a few of us went outside and played "crack the whip" using snowmobiles towing banana sleds...