Hannukah began during our Peloponnese roadtrip. We “enjoyed” some contentious dreidel matches in Delphi, but waited until we arrived in Heraklion, Crete to have our latke feast once Michael and Emily had joined us. Hanukkah overlapped with Christmas so we had a blended celebration. Our rental came decorated for Christmas with lights, a big and small tree, and even some Santa and snowmen statues. Nana also came with a suitcase full of holiday cheer- stockings, tiny ornaments, a brussel sprout ornament to hide and find, presents, wrapping paper, a ridiculous number of dreidels, gelt, and a menorah. We enjoyed the festivities in the town- lights, decorated trees, a carnival and market, carolers, and kids clanging triangles in exchange for coins and sweets, and even Cretan Santa (see below) who seemed particularly chill.

We spent the morning of Christmas Eve in Knossos where we explored the site of the ancient Minoan palace. It was inhabited as early as 7000 BC and was the center of Minoan civilization during the Bronze Age. The site was excavated by archaeologists in the late 1800s and early 1900s who unearthed thousands of artifacts and a wealth of knowledge about the Minoans. One of the lead archaeologists, Arthur Evans, reconstructed the ruins with the use of cement and paint to depict his theories of what it would have looked like. Those methods and theories are now criticized by many archaeologists.

After the site, we checked out the impressive collection of artifacts at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, many found at Knossos and at Phaistos where we planned to go the next day.

Over the summer, when we were planning our trip, Mila heard us talking about going to Phaistos. “FACE TOAST?!?!?” she exclaimed with laughter. She instantly got busy planning how we would have Face Toast and then go to Phaistos. Four months later, she realized her vision with some help from her sous chef, the other early bird, Nana.

After eating carefully crafted face toasts, we headed south to the archaeological site of Phaistos. We had the privilege of being the only visitors and wandered around the site. Seeing so many artifacts from the museum helped us visualize what Phaistos was like in its heyday as a Minoan palace.

On Christmas, after opening presents, we headed to Kristos Gorge, where we hiked through the beautiful canyon. My mom and I turned back after we came to a part of the trail where you had to scale a rock face with a rope. We decided instead to find a sunny spot to have our picnic and wait for the others to finish the hike.

We had heard that the restaurants in the smaller beach towns in the south were closed down for winter, but decided to venture there anyway. After a scenic drive with lots of twists above huge dropoffs, we thankfully arrived at a restaurant with a sign “Open All Year.” Sadly the sign was false advertising, so we had a quick snack at the beach before heading back to a bigger town. At the beach, Mila made an “archaeological site” of an ancient fishing village with an agora in the sand.

We stopped on the way back for lunch and a short stop at a small lake. While my mom and Em were playing pinecone soccer with the kids, Simon, Michael, and I walked around in search of some “roman springs.” At one point we crested a hill as church bells from the nearby monastery rang. It was quite idyllic.

On our way to Chania, we stopped for a visit to the town of Rethymno. We checked out a lighthouse and tried to go to the castle, which was closed. Our attempts to use Mila as a battering ram were unsuccessful.

We loved Chania. We walked around the harbor at sunset and enjoyed the festive atmosphere. We saw crowds of people dressed like Santa for their Santa Run. Simon won a bottle of wine (that tasted like tree sap) playing a ring toss game at the carnival. On another walk to the lighthouse during the day, we saw a fisherman feeding a crew of hungry cats on the shore.

Chania is known as a home base for some fabulous hiking excursions, including the infamous Samaria Gorge which is closed in the winter. We opted to try the Imbros gorge as we had heard that it was both beautiful and “easy,” thus a good option for the kids and for my mom who had recently injured her foot. Unfortunately, the trail was quite rocky and uneven and my mom twisted her ankle early on in the hike. We headed back to a tavern at the trailhead and she insisted we do the hike without her. So while she elevated and iced her foot, read her book, and chatted with locals, the rest of us continued on through the gorge.

We wished we had more time in Chania to explore more of the hiking options and the beautiful beaches. The scenery was stunning, the history was fascinating, the towns were charming, and the weather was glorious. We had amazing food in Crete and loved the local tradition of ending each meal with dessert and raki on the house. And the street art and critters were pretty cool too!

After a week in Crete, we headed back to Athens for one last night. We didn’t have as much time as we would have liked in Athens either, but we were able to get to the impressive Acropolis site and museum. We had some more tasty meals in Athens, with our last meal being particularly memorable for Mila who loved spying on the chefs in the open kitchen.

Emily, Michael, Simon, and I had a fun evening stroll around the city including a stop at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, near Syntagma Square, where we watched the pompom-adorned guards doing their slow-motion ceremony which apparently is choreographed to increase blood flow after standing still for long periods of time. To us, it looked like an impressively synchronized “silly walk.”

On this trip was the momentous occasion when Alden caught up to Nana in height.

We are so grateful that Emily, Michael, and my mom made the trip out to meet up with us and spend the holidays in such a scenic and interesting place. On our last night together in Athens, it was bittersweet. Not only was it our last night together for some time, but it was the 52nd anniversary of my parents’ wedding, and of course, throughout the trip, we missed my dad’s presence. On that last night, we sat on our balcony and toasted my dad. He would have been happy that we were all together and having so many amazing experiences. We only wish he could have been with us there as well.