Part of the reason for taking advantage of California’s paternity leave again at this point in the year was so we could take Grace home for the holidays to each of our homes. We won’t be doing this every year, but we thought it would be nice to do it once.

We started off with a late Thanksgiving/early Christmas in Anchorage, where we spent the week enjoying family traditions, visiting with friends, and introducing Grace to Alaska in the winter.

Mom and Dad had all of the Christmas decorations up, and the weather cooperated to gives a suitably white, snowy Christmas. We bundled Grace up in a winter coat and a car seat cozy and took her out for a spin in a sled, which she seemed to enjoy, or at least tolerate.

As we do every time we visit Alaska, we had a long list of things to do, a mix of people to see, restaurants to go out to, projects to help my dad with, and traditions we didn’t want to miss out on, like fondue and glögg. It was an especially busy trip this time around because of the new garage my dad had built next to the house, and the various vehicles that needed to be moved into and around it.

Some of the cars were easier to move than others – using the traditional method of driving them under their own power, as you might expect. But the majority of them needed some help, a combination of towing, winching, and good old pushing, pulling, and otherwise cajoling.

Thanks to one unresponsive Unimog, we didn’t get everything moved that we had wanted to, but we accomplished most of what we set out to do, including moving the 1970 Volvo out of the garage for the first time in 29 years, as long as we’ve lived in the house. It’s a strange sight to see that part of the garage free of the car.

In addition to the cars, we also moved a table saw and a giant wood stove to the garage using a sled, all two-man jobs that made me feel glad I could be around to help. Other useful accomplishments included getting my dad’s new computer set up, dividing the Playmobil collection (harder than it sounds, but nothing compared to the looming Lego Apportionment), and going through some of the many kids books from my childhood to bring home for Grace.

We had a chance to visit the Anchorage Museum to see their Warhol exhibition and use the photobooth that my friend Anthony put together and went up to Anchorage to set up. Despite some technical difficulties, we eventually got a great set of photos.

We took Grace to Mexico in Alaska, our family’s traditional favorite restaurant, where the owner enjoyed meeting her and we got to see the restaurant’s new look, courtesy of the production company that shot scenes for Everybody Loves Whales there and spruced up the place prior to shooting.

We also ate out at the Moose’s Tooth, as always, for tasty pizza and beer, and Snow City, for my favorite Ship Creek Benedict (Eggs Benedict with salmon). We met Marc and Briana there, whom we’d last seen at Brent’s wedding in October, as well as Neil, whom we hadn’t seen in awhile and who’s about to move to London for three years next month.

So, it was a busy trip, but a great one, slightly longer than the three day whirlwinds we’ve been doing recently. I was happy to be able to introduce Grace to Alaska, to my old bedroom, to our Christmas mouse poem, to the smell of chocolate fondue, to snow and sledding, and to family friends, and we’re looking forward to bringing her back in the summer for a whole new set of experiences.