Alexander Isaac said that he enjoyed this past holiday season. He attended the christmas programs put on by the school and city, but he did not really celebrate the catholic Christmas, which is on the 25th of December, because he is Russian Orthodox and goes by a different calendar. For most of the Catholic holiday season he and his wife kept to doing just ordinary things.

"Slavik' is a Yupik word borrowed from the Russian language. It means something like "glorious" and is given to Orthodox Christmas. Slavik starts on the 7th of January and these days goes until the star has gone through all the houses in town. But Alexander says that things, including Slavik, are different these days. Back when he was young there was a lot more discipline among the kids, and they also had to do more work. Before Slavik started, the boys had to chop lots of wood and pack water for the people of the village to use. When the star was in a house the children were not loud and mischief like they are today, and no one was allowed to leave a house the star was in until it did. The Slavying itself lasted three days and three nights, and everyone participated. Today a lot of things are different, but some things remain the same, like the spirit of the season.

This Slavik Alexander spent in Kwethluk where he did some Slavying. He was also there to watch his son, Nick, be ordained as a subdeacon by Bishop Innocent who had come all the way from Kodiak to perform the ceremony.