Day 62, Year 6 Merry Christmas to All
Date: Saturday, December 25, 2010
Weather: Sunny and WINDY, Roaring SE 35 Knots All Day
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Our Christmas Day started early with a breakfast on Windbird with Pieter and Carla of Odulphus and Kevin of Ocapela. We had artichoke quiche, bacon, and a wonderful fruit tart from the French bakery in town. It was a really great way to start the Christmas Day with friends. Then I cooked, cooked, and cooked some more-turkey, dressing, vegetables–red, green, and white (red pepper strips, broccoli, and cauliflower) to take to our shared cruiser Christmas dinner. We also took the pumpkin pie I baked yesterday.
But before the dinner, we talked to both of our children. First we connected with Justin, Jo, and Ziggy in England. They were just having breakfast and Ziggy was opening his wild animal gifts from us. A German company called Schleich makes wonderful replicas of animals from around the world and they are made to scale, so we had sent a group of African safari animals to Ziggy. He seemed to love the animals and we just loved watching him play with them. His favorite seemed to be the rhino. Next we talked to Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah in Maine. We watched them open their joint gift from us which was a Duplo (big Legos) Big City Zoo set with many of the wild animals we have seen here in South Africa. Sam, and now Jonah, play with Duplo blocks every day, so we were especially pleased that Sam shrieked with delight at yet another Duplo set. He immediately started building and Jonah delighted in picking up each of the wild animals and naming them. But when he grew tired of that he simply picked up some jingle bells and started singing and dancing. As always, I can’t say enough good things about Skype video. Once again, it allowed us to share very special moments with our grandchildren thousands of miles away. We have also talked to Mark’s family and mine. So, as far away as we are, we have felt very connected this Christmas through Skype.
At 4 pm we headed to the Yacht Club and we had great fun with our Yankee gift exchange. Afterwards we had a shared dinner and then entertained by Carla playing her accordion. Pieter led us in singing a few Christmas carols in three languages and George of Huarya of Argentina sang and he and Marisa danced to Carla’s accordion music. It was a fun evening and a delightful Christmas Day in South Africa.
We have spent as much time as possible sending Christmas greetings to family and friends, but we feel like we have just scratched the surface. So we will continue during the next week. But in the meantime, if we haven’t been able to connect directly to you, please know that we are thinking of you and are sending our best wishes for the New Year.
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| 101225 Day 62 South Africa–Christmas Day |
