ON THE ROAD: A ROSWELL CHRISTMAS

Roswell, NM
33.42º N | 104.53º W

A taste of my sister's good taste.

It is our first time in three years to celebrate Christmas off of Cara Mia, a little bittersweet -- and incredibly landlocked in New Mexico. But there's all sweetness in celebrating with family, not to mention having plentiful hot showers, a comfy bed and central heat.

Merry Christmas to our plodding followers. Glad you've come plodding across land with us. Buckle up, we'll be heading off again soon!

Boyd and Chip assembling the Christmas tree.

Skyping Christmas around the world: Casey & Remi in France,
Dylan in Norway, us in New Mexico.

Roswell Christmas socks.

Kennon women: Demi, Hannah, Kathy, Karey,
me and Mom.

The bros-in-law, Boyd and Chip.

Beautiful girls.

ON THE ROAD: ROSWELLITES

Roswell, NM
33.42º N | 104.53º W

From Clines Corners, we took the long, lonely road south.

To my hometown, Roswell, for more family fun.

Mom and me waiting for Santa at Beehive where Mom lives now.

Chip, Santa,
me, Mom,
my niece Hannah and Demi, four generations.

MERRY CARA MIA CHRISTMAS!

Holiday greetings to our ploddingINparadise family. We are grateful for you, our friends old and new. Thank you for coming along on this glorious adventure with us. It would be lonely without you.

May you swim in an ocean of big love this holiday season.

RECIPE: POPCORN BALLS

Coconut Grove, Miami, FL 25º43.533N | 80º84.321W

The popcorn balls I made for Christmas Eve were so popular, I thought I'd share the recipe here. They're SO EASY.

I got it from Paula Deen at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/popcorn-balls-recipe/index.html

AWESOME POPCORN BALLS

by Paula Deen

If you don't have a candy thermometer (I didn't), you can use this cold water method. AND, if you're doing this on a boat -- making molten sugar -- please make sure you're in a calm spot without the possibility of getting waked. :-\

A CARA MIA CHRISTMAS

Coconut Grove, Miami, FL 25º43.533N | 80º84.321W

Merry Christmas from Miami!

When you're far from home, you make merry how you can. We gathered free boughs ...

for the dinghy bow's Charlie Brownish tree ...

and gathered our friends from Jessie Marie and Anastasia ...

for a most non-traditional Christmas Eve progressive appetizer/caroling extravaganza.

Between stops for apps at each other's boats, we lashed the three dinghies together and toured the sprawling Dinner Key mooring field in our makeshift, unwieldy trimaran, caroling and tossing candy canes to puzzled boaters. Not sure what our victims thought, but we had a merry, hilarious outing.

We ended the evening with proof there's a kid in all of us: POPCORN BALLS ...

I never saw people so excited over popcorn balls!

... and flying tissue wishes, where you write your wish on a piece of tissue paper, roll it in a cylinder, light it and watch it fly away. (If you've never heard of this magical silliness, there's a video on YouTube.)

Christmas Day is in our grasp

so long as we have hands to clasp

A FLORIDA CHRISTMAS

This entry was later replaced with an actual Christmas message, but I keep it here so I will not lose the comments from our dear readers.

Merry Cara Mia Christmas!

We have so much to tell you, and we will tell it all -- after a few quiet days to celebrate Christmas. It is hard to measure how very much we have to be thankful for this year. Our lives are perfect but for the loss of a dear, dear friend yesterday.

We are tucked away in a safe place with new friends, loving life, doing chores and provisioning. Next stop: Bahamas.

Until we have time to catch up, here are a few photos of our first furlough from the ICW, our first offshore passage, our first turquoise, see-through water, our first Christmas with Cara Mia.

Thank you for coming along on this adventure with us. We love you one and all.

Christmas Day is in our grasp So long as we have hands to clasp

Welcome Christmas. Bring your cheer. Welcome all who's far and near.

Love,
Tammy & Chip

Under full sail at sunrise on passage from Palm Beach to Miami.

No ICW. No bridges. No engine. Pure happiness.

CARA MIA CHRISTMAS

Coconut Grove, Miami, FL 25º43.532N | 80º14.193W

Merry Cara Mia Christmas!

It is hard to measure how very much we have to be thankful for this year as we have successfully made our way to Miami and anticipate our next stop: The Bahamas. Our new life is bitterly sweet as we embrace the joys of cruising and reel from the loss of a dear, dear friend Dale just two days ago.

Christmas has smiled on us, leaving awesome cruising friends in our stockings, Karen and Dale (yes, just as my old friend Dale was taken away, the universe has brought me another one).

A makeshift Cara Mia tree, guaranteed not to topple.

It was our turn to show them our own Christmas traditions, however goofy. Sure enough we issued our guests their Christmas socks, and in a long-standing family tradition, took photos thereof.

Christmas feet!

We ate, we laughed, we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original TV version with the voice of Boris Karloff).

And to top off a perfect day with a perfect ending, Chip played the guitar and sang for us. The crowd went wild.

Christmas Day is in our grasp So long as we have hands to clasp

Welcome Christmas. Bring your cheer. Welcome all who's far and near.

Thank you for coming along on this adventure with us. We love you one and all.

Love,
Tammy & Chip

Coconut Grove, Miami, FL 25º43.532N | 80º14.193W

Happiness is an inaugural offshore passage.

HAPPY, HAPPY SORROW

Coconut Grove, Miami, FL 25º43.532N | 80º14.193W

Christmas Eve. A day so packed with nostalgia. We had made great plans to celebrate, and I decided that Dale would have wanted me to go into them with gusto, to love the day, to love those around me, to celebrate Christmas.

And so I did. One foot in front of the other, I marched right through, although often crying, and had a grand time with the help of new friends.

On a long walk yesterday, I found a discarded Christmas tree that is now installed in the dinghy, complete with solar lights.

In our decorated chariot, we joined other cruisers for happy hour on a neighboring island. Among the many things cruisers have in common, on this day, we all miss somebody. It soothes the soul to spend the holiday with kindred spirits.

Cruiser formal Christmas Eve Happy Hour.

And speaking of kindred spirits, tonight we celebrated Nova Scotian Christmas Eve with Karen and Dale (my new friend, Dale) from Jessie Marie. The fare included pomegranate cocktails, shrimp, lobster, smoked salmon and other amazingly wonderful things.

To top off the evening, we combined two traditions:

1. Nova Scotia: Sneaking candy canes onto people's cars

2. America: Christmas caroling

Our version:
We dinghied through the mooring field, quietly approaching boats, silently hanging candy canes on the lifelines and bursting into song and laughter as we sped away.

This could possibly be the most fun I've ever had, especially while wiping away sad tears.

Sheer fun. Utter sorrow. They say one makes you appreciate the other more. Perhaps it is true.

Happy Christmas Eve.

Coconut Grove, Miami, FL 25º43.532N | 80º14.193W

Nova Scotian deliciousness!

Delighted as children when we returned from Happy Hour
to find solar lights on the tree doing their magic.