Merry Christmas!!

Christmas in Bradenton is beautiful, because the streets, sidewalks, and particularly the area around the waterfront (lucky us....our marina!!) have great light displays. It's a good place to get in the spirit, but the family Christmas is in Tennessee.

We went to Gatlinburg to visit with Mike, our marina manager, and his daughter Lauren, who had flown up for a ski trip before Christmas. It was fun to revisit our old haunts (we both worked in Gatlinburg before college, and Jay and our sons taught skiing and snowboarding there for several years) and have a great dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. The mountains were beautiful, and the lights through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg were impressive. We took the opportunity to display the Twin Dolphin burgee in a new location (and a much colder one than it's used to).

We had the opportunity to visit with lots of friends before the serious cooking began for Christmas. We spent an evening with Windy and Linda and Bryce and Sue in Kingston, catching up and reliving (embellishing) our boat stories from the past.















We had a special welcoming sign at Bryce and Sue's, and also a warm welcome from their menagerie.












We stopped at Lee and Ann's for an overnight while we were in Kingston, and enjoyed their castle once again. We also went to a party at Sid and Donna's, and were thrilled when we walked in and saw a room full of friends from our old marina, Blue Springs. It was fun to catch up and see friends we'd missed.

Even with the bad weather, the family made it to the farm, and we had a gorgeous white Christmas. As pretty as it is in the warmer climates, there's nothing like snow on Christmas (and snow cream, and snowmen, and cold feet and noses and cute girl cousins together). Santa found us, even though not everyone had been good all year......




















































Surprisingly, the Captain had an assortment of Cousin Eddie Wear in his stocking. It was hard for Santa to find all the special accessories, but the look was pretty comparable (and thank you, Brittany, for letting the old fart wear your soft new robe). We took the RV to Tennessee to store for the winter, and also used it as an annex while on the farm (it served double duty -- extra sleeping space for the family and a hideout for the Captain's brown water sessions). It was bittersweet to park it, even though the reason was so we could leave to cruise again in January.