Amazing Christmas on the sv Mary Elizabeth

(Enjoying Christmas Eve dinner on board while watching a Christmas Story)

(relaxing post-dinner Christmas Eve)

Christmas on the sv Mary Elizabeth was great. Mary Alice, Bill and I slept in and, after enjoying Pamela's delicious banana bread, had a lazy morning and afternoon. After opening presents we enjoyed the sunshine and played with our new gadgets. Bill and I received Kindle from Mary Alice. What an amazing idea for two people who live on a boat and read a ton. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kindle, it is an electronic book reader from Amazon. You can go online and download books (there is a library of 20,000 books to chose from and they are a lot cheaper than new hardcovers [each Kindle book is $9,99]). The screen is big enough to comfortably read (and you can change the font size) and it is very easy to use and navigate. Since Kindle was recently featured on Oprah's "favorite things" they are on back order. But Mary Alice's friend Monika lent us hers for the weekend so we could check it out and learn the ropes. It will be the perfect thing for the boat so we won't have to spend money on books that we end up having to leave at book swaps when we run out of room to stowe them.

(presents, presents, and more presents)

Bill and I gifted each other a Nikon D60 camera with a super duper lens. It is complicated and we are still learning, but it is an amazing camera. Since we take dozens of pictures a day, it is something that we will certainly be using a lot.

(Bill goofing with the new Nikon)

Our Christmas dinner here at the resort was delicious and fancy. We had a multiple course meal at the top of the tower. The three of us came back to the boat stuffed to the brim.

(Christmas dinner)

Friday we "left the compound" and went to the movies. There are SO many movies out at the moment; we saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which we all gave 'two thumbs up' -- despite the almost three hour run time. Doubt, Valkyrie, Marlie and Me, and the two Kate Winslet movies are next on the list. There is a really nice movie theater close by. After the movie we ate at the Whales Rib, a restaurant in Boca on the water that three different people suggested. It was very crowded and after waiting 45 minutes + for a table we decided to eat at the bar. It was as good as everyone said it was - and we all overate (again). We came back to the boat and Mary Alice taught me Skip-O - one of the five new games that we got for the boat (which we are both very excited for!!!)

(Mary Alice and Lauren enjoying the sun on Christmas day while playing with Kindle)

Today we took the resort shuttle over to the Beach part of the resort, which is under renovation but has recently opened on a limited basis. The resort is very crowded right now - I guess for the upcoming New Year holiday. We ate lunch by the pool and walked on the beach. The Atlantic was choppy today and two small boats capsized trying to get in/out of the Boca Inlet. We dropped Mary Alice off at the airport a few hours ago and we are enjoying an early evening on the boat.

(Bill doing his magic tricks for Mary Alice)

The weather has been great. It is warm but windy so it isn't hot. The clouds come and go but the rain has held off for the past few days. Tomorrow I have plans to go to the adults only pool (this place is crawling with lots and lots of kids.....) while Bill golfs. We'll pick Cindy and Boyd up at the airport on Monday and then find a different marina in the area until after New Years. We are really treating ourselves here.

So it was a lovely visit with Mary Alice and we had a very nice Christmas and hope that everyone else did also.

For more pics, click here.