Day 60, Year 5: Christmas Fun
Date: Friday, December 25, 2009
Weather: Partly Sunny,Variable Winds
Location: Nai Harn Bay, Phuket Island, Thailand
What a fun Christmas we have had. Starting last night with the buffet on Jungle Beach, continuing with a late morning gathering on Truest Passion, snorkeling in the afternoon, a late afternoon salad course on Shirena and followed by a traditional Christmas dinner on Windbird. In between all of this, we had some great Skype call connections with our kids. We saw Sam and Jonah on Christmas Eve (our Christmas morning) and then again we watched them opening their stocking gifts on Christmas morning (our Christmas evening). At the very end of our day we got to see Justin, Jo, and Ziggy and all of Jo’s family in England. We are so thankful that we had good Skype connections. That was the best Christmas present ever.
The party last night was so much fun. We sat at a table with Robert and Tina of Shirena (Australia, Robert by way of Poland), Donna and Gerry of Scot Free II (Canada), Richard and Susan of Sea Bunny (England), Nannette and Stuart of Truest Passion (Australia, Stuart by way of Scotland), and Guy and Annika of Street Legal (England and Sweden respectively). The little restaurant hosting the party is often referred to as Jungle Beach. The food was good, the band was great, and the people selling touristy things made the evening become even more lively. Gerry decided that he had to buy sunglasses for all of us that have little lights all around the rim that can be turned on to blink. So we became the brightest table at the party. Then either Donna or Tina bought us all Santa hats with blinking lights around the white band. We were looking good. And then a young woman came by with traditional hill country hats. You just have to see these to understand, but I had to have one and will wear it every Christmas Eve for the rest of my life. The whole evening was just great fun.
Truest Passion had us over for a late morning social today. Richard and Susan of Sea Bunny dug out a bottle of Pimm’s No.1 that has been in their bilge for a few years. This is a gin-based alcohol and mixed with lemonade it was a perfect warm Christmas morning drink (a traditional English summer drink). Then we went snorkeling before heading back to Windbird to cook the turkey breast and make the mashed potatoes and gravy. At 4 pm we went to Shirena for a champagne toast and salads. Tina made a wonderful beef tenderloin Thai salad and Donna added a Greek salad. Both were absolutely delicious. On Windbird we had Butterball turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, asparagus, and finished off with pecan and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. We are stuffed!
Then came the highlight of the day. We had an absolutely fabulous Skype connection with video and got to watch as Sam and Jonah dug into their Christmas stockings. We almost felt like we were there. We talked to Mark’s sister and to my sister, and ended our Christmas day with a Skype video call with Justin and Jo. Unfortunately, Ziggy was sleeping and hasn’t been awake much since arriving in England late yesterday. But we got to see him sleeping and we did get to see everyone else. We will try another call tomorrow and hope that Ziggy has recovered from the flight. Now it’s time to get ready for Boxing Day.
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| 091224 Thailand–Skype Photos of Sam and Jonah in Maine |
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| 091225 Thailand–Christmas Day in Nai Harn |
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| 091225 Thailand–Skype Photos of Grandkids |
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| 091225 Day 60 Thailand–Christmas Day Snorkel in Nai Harn Bay |
