We spent Christmas in Abemama, and we did our traditional family personal pizza baking on Christmas Eve. Back home making homemade pizza was a novelty, since we basically did it once a year, and it was so easy to just call up and order a pizza any time we wanted pizza. But now on the boat we make it all the time, including homemade sauce, so it’s a little more routine. Well, I guess making personal pizzas with topping choices is still a little different and special enough to remain our Christmas Eve tradition.
Christmas Day started out with an hour sail across the lagoon in order to be in a more protected spot when the wind was supposed to shift. The weather seemed to not care that it was Christmas and that we just wanted to sit, relax, eat and drink. Later, EOS II came over for our Christmas party, and they brought their Christmas tree with them to give Exodus a more festive vibe. And by Christmas tree I of course mean a palm frond wrapped in purple boas, what were you expecting? Our feast consisted of beef and papaya stew, lasagna, cous cous, boxed mashed potatoes, canned green beans, and homemade dinner rolls. Brenden referred to these as “fluffy clouds of yumminess,” which made my day!
The only gifts exchanged on Exodus this year were with EOS II, and all gifts were either a funny gag gift or something found on the boat or made (like the lego butterfly Brenden made for the girls, complete with movable wings). We had an early meal and then lounged around on the net up front until the sun went down.
Fluffy clouds of yumminess (I was too slow taking the picture)
The whole “gift-free” Christmas thing was partly out of necessity, because it’s not like there were ample shopping opportunities around. But it it also just seemed to be the logical conclusion to the trajectory we had been on since we left home. Every year the gifts would become more sparse as we focused more on where we were and who we were with and less and less on gifts and stuff. So, this being our last Christmas cruising we got rid of the gifts altogether. I told the boys that we would have Christmas like that from now on and they responded like the time I told them we weren’t going to have any furniture when we got home, just a big woven mat in the living room. Haha, mom is so cute.
Gresham Family Exodus 