The year was about 1954. My husband who was in the Canadian Navy. He was stationed at a location between the military base at CFB Fort Churchill and the townsite of Churchill, which is a port on the coast of James Bay, in northern Manitoba.

We did not yet live in the married quarters at Fort Churchill, so we and our new son, Michael lived in a little shack in an area referred to as "the hill," just outside of the townsite. Our shack looked out over the harbour, so we could watch the white whales in the summer or the dog teams and their native owners travelling across the ice when the harbour was frozen over. We could see the occasional seal in the summer and it was not unusual to see the occasional polar bear or other wildlife that live in that part of the world.

We had a husky dog, but he was more of a pet than a work dog. This was going to be our first Christmas with our first child. Jack, my husband, was not home, having gone to the naval station for the day. Michael and I were out in the shack getting ready to put in our usual day. We had no inside plumbing and no running water, and trying to keep the place warm with our coal burning heater was time-consuming, so a usual day sometimes involved plenty of work.

It was a cold, crisp, windy, but sunny day. As I was working, I heard a very strange moaning outside. This moaning seemed to fill the air. It was every where. Our husky, who was tied up outside our door, put his nose in the air and he also began to join in this moaning and howling. It was very eerie.

There was a small native village situated between our house and the town. Most of the native families in the village lived in tents or little shacks and they all had dog teams. All these dogs began to join in this moaning. Soon I discovered the cause.

There was another "voice" being heard along with the "voices" of the dogs, one I recognized and knew well: Bing Crosby. In the town, there was a little bakery called The Northern Light Bakery and outside this bakery there had been set up for Christmas a loudspeaker from which came Christmas music. Bing Crosby was singing White Christmas, as only Bing could sing it back in 1954. The wind carried his voice and was sending it all over the town, over the tundra, over the snow, having been joined with a chorus of huskies and our dog, to fill the air with the Christmas spirit.

It was beautiful and I will never forget it. I am sure that Bing had never given a better Christmas concert anywhere than he did that cold windy sunny day in Churchill. I remember this experience every time I hear White Christmas almost 50 years later.

Here's another story of our dog, King. In this photo Jack has harnessed King to a toboggan. Sherry William, the daughter of a neighbour, is in a box on the toboggan. Jack called "mush" and King took off pulling the sled with Sherry on the sled. Jack could not keep up with them and he lost control of the sled. Eventually Sherry fell off and King stopped. Jack sure looked funny trying to keep up with them in his boots that were not even tied on properly. He had no idea that King would take off like that.

Jack said that as he was running along with King the crust on the snow gave way and he fell about four feet down into the snow. King came down on top of him. While Jack was lying flat on his back down in this hole King started licking his face. Yuk! I did not see that part so I have to take his word for it.

What ever happened to King you may ask? Well, there was a law passed that we could not have huskies on the base so we had to tie him up with other dogs down on the beach. We decided that we did not want to do that so we gave him to Frank Martin who had sled dogs and sleds. Later we heard that poor old King was out running with a team and had a heart attach and died doing what he really loved to do.

We got a little cocker spaniel to replace him, not knowing that she was pregnant. That turned out to be another story but we won't go into that right now.

In the background of this picture one can see the native village between us and the town site. It was the dogs in this village that formed the choir that sang along with Bing Crosby. You should have heard their version of Silent Night! See "King - A Christmas Story" at the top of this page for that story.

In the background a fishing boat or tug (can't remember which) can be seen in the James Bay Harbour. White wales could often be seen in this water and in the winter we often saw the natives travelling by dog team over the ice.