Floating festivities.

I’m a big Christmas person. I’ve always loved the traditions. Since this year was Tay and my first Christmas on the boat, and it is going to be forever our memory of our first family Christmas, expectations and stoke levels were high. I told Taylor every 15 minutes, for a full week, how excited I was for Christmas morning.

Shoutout to Lauren Wilbur for the sweet Ornament!

On Christmas Eve, Tay and I skated. We like to skate on holidays because the skate parks are usually pretty empty so we’re less in the way and less embarrassed.

Yes we had fun, yes I bled a bit, no we’re not good.

We were invited to dinner with Chuck and Kitsy and seized the opportunity to take our dinghy across the bay as our Christmas transportation. My wish in life is for one more year, however many years from now, for the dinghy to be the preferred means of transportation to Christmas eve dinner.

Dinner with Chuck and Kitsy was decadent as always. A feast to remember. They gave us a set of steak knives for the boat, which shows how generous they are, but also observant as a few weeks back they had to use paring knives at dinner on the boat

A highlight of Christmas eve was the dinghy ride back. Sometimes we kill the motor and drift in the bay. It’s quiet, dark, and wonderful to feel disconnected floating along. It’s isolated but surrounded by the bright boat lights and hills of houses.

Christmas morning was our first Christmas as our own little family. We love our families and miss them dearly, but we were excited to celebrate as our own unit. Eunice’s stocking was filled, I made a frittata, and the small boat floor filled quickly with wrapping paper.

Santa Came but Eunice couldn’t even pretend to be excited.

Growing up the Christmas day tradition was a long walk or cross country ski with the family. This year was a fitting nautical version of that when we met up with our local family and went for a boat ride. We cruised the bay and enjoyed the sunny December day.

We tagged along to Chuck and Kitsy’s dinner plans with their friends, cruised sunset cliffs in a ’48 woodie, and had a photo shoot with some inflatable Christmas decorations.

I’ve never felt more famous than riding in this thing. People gawk hard.

All in all, expectations were high for this Christmas and we couldn’t have asked for more. Oh yeah! and Taylor made cookies in our oven, which has the temperature control of a steel box with a candle in the bottom and one big door…sorry that’s not a very colorful analogy, that’s what it is.