The 80 Utah National Guard soldiers who supervised the construction of roads and schools in southern Iraq reached out to orphanages during the holidays. "This was the best Christmas I ever had," said Master Sgt. Elliot Aanerud of West Jordan. "We were like the Polar Express, Iraqi style." The Utahns and soldiers from the 258th Engineer Company from Arizona loaded up a 5-ton truck with clothing, toys, school supplies, hygiene items and food to three orphanages in the Iraqi city of An Nasiriyah. "The smiles on the faces of the children reminded me of my own children's faces on Christmas mornings," said chaplain Joel Miller, a high school counselor in the Alpine School District. The soldiers delivered the gifts to separate orphanages for infants, boys and girls. The bulk of supplies, however, were left at the orphanage for girls. "In Iraq, the focus of support tends to go to the males, rather than the females," said Lt. Col. Lynn Hinckley, of Salt Lake City. "Often the girls' schools and orphanages are more austere than the boys'." This past year, the Utah engineers have also delivered pencils, crayons, paper and notebooks to impoverished students at eight schools in southern Iraq. The 115th, deployed last January, is scheduled to return home next month.