Little Christmas on the Homestead
Haines, Alaska

Our first Christmas in Haines was in 2006. We spent Michelle and Aly's Christmas break at the cabin that year. We took the ferry up December 19th, and stayed until January 2nd.

Daylight was in short supply, but the weather was extremely mild. We did have some snow, especially toward New Year (it's in the background photo). We took advantage of the warm weather to move in a lot of supplies and goods, some by canoe but mostly hauled over the trail, including two new rugs, an easy chair, and pieces of a new woodstove. We averaged at least one round trip between Mud Bay and the cabin for each day we were there.

Aly supervises canoe loading from a Mud Bay vantage point.

Since we'd already put up our regular Christmas tree in Juneau, so we settled on a Christmas branch for the cabin. We had a lot of wind, so the generators provided the power to use Christmas lights on it and around the cabin entryway, and to play Christmas music.

Mark tries out the new rug for comfort while Aly rests up for the next game of dominoes.
Moving in the easy chair was a little inconvenient, but the cats were pleased that we went to the effort for their sake!

Dinner on the Winter Solstice.

So, what did we do when we weren't hauling in gear?

We made music.

We played dominoes. We didn't get a photo of her version of Stonehenge, unfortunately.

Christmas morning.

We also hiked, visited neighbors (including a great party Christmas night) read, and cooked. Michelle made Christmas dinner, complete with roast duck and plum pudding, on the woodstove.

Spice (l) and Lissa (r) sit quietly, patiently waiting for the magic of Christmas
to make the duck fall off the counter.

Just before New Years we drove up the Chilkat River Valley to take in some real snow, and to visit a fireworks stand. Aly had her first experience with private fireworks on New Years Eve, as we welcomed in the New Year for each of the U.S. time zones. It was a great way to lift her spirits, as we had learned earlier that day that Michelle's Grandma Sarah, for whom Aly was named, had passed away the day before. (Aly's full name is Sarah Alexandra.) We found out she'd passed away when Mom and Dad Harris contacted the local radio station, KHNS, which has a "listener personal" broadcast periodically each day. We didn't hear the broadcast, but a neighbor did, and hiked over the hill to make sure we knew. We also learned that the neighbors use CB radios to communicate out there.

We didn't see much wildlife this trip, but there were two significant sightings: Mark and Aly flushed a grouse in the rocks above the house, which means there's an additional food source there. Mark also watched an ermine walk by on the edge of the beach one day. They're mostly nocturnal, so that was a pretty lucky sighting.

So, not the most exciting Christmas, but a very, very good one. We will remember this one fondly for years to come.

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