Most Alaskan Christmas Gift Ever

Alaskans are, on the whole, a most inventive bunch of folks. Using materials at hand, they can quite often fix what needs fixing, or create something completely new. And in so doing, function tops form every time. It does not matter what something looks like as long as it does what it needs to do.

For years there was a house in Bethel that was apparently too drafty; the T-111 siding was cracked. Rather than replace it, remodel, or rebuild, the owner took spray-on foam insulation and covered the outside of the house with a six-inch layer of it. The house looked like it had been coated with orange icing. It wasn’t pretty, but apparently it worked fine; a family lived there for years.

Gift giving at Christmas often inspires people to come up with strange and unusual ideas. This year one of Dutch’s acquaintances presented him with the unique item pictured above. He made it himself and was quite proud of it.

“Hope you like it,” he said as he put it in the back of Dutch’s truck. “It ought to last until April or May.”

Dutch brought it home and placed it next to the front door.

“What do you think?” he asked me.

“Well,” I said carefully, “I’ve certainly never seen anything quite like it.”

He just smiled.

“Does it do something?”

“It has a function,” he answered.

“Looks like a big ice cup to me. Do we pour it full of gin and call it a giant martini?”

Not even close. It is a candle holder. Made of ice.

So Alaska.