Merry Christmas! We have had a whirlwind of activity here at the boat yard and beyond, so we spent a quiet Christmas morning all to ourselves (with Thumbelina, our cat). Then we jumped right in again.

As we have mentioned in past blogs, this is a very social boat yard. Since Saturday, we have had a progressive dinner (including dinner for 8 on Gratitude), Christmas Eve breakfast (at the home of the husband and wife team who work at the yard), Christmas Eve dinner at the yard, Christmas morning breakfast (which we passed), and Christmas dinner at the yard. The food has been overwhelming – both in taste and quantity – so we need to plan our departure before we cannot get through the lock, never mind Gratitude!

Because we have no family with us this year, we decided to serve Christmas dinner at an area church. It is the “parent” church to the one near the yard that we attend while here. What an operation! The tradition of serving Christmas dinner there has been practiced for over 20 years. They serve over 1800 dinners, with 400 volunteers. There is no charge, but people are asked for a free will donation and those who can do. We served in the kitchen assembling the plates of food to the order of servers who waited on the tables. There were two teams (of 5 people each) preparing the plates for two different shifts from 12:00 to 3:00. We have no idea how many wait people there were, or pie tenders, drink servers, etc. It was run like a well oiled machine and it is obvious they knew what they were doing. Amazingly, the food and the people to be served ran out at about the same time at the end of our shift. We truly enjoyed the experience and it helped fill the void.

Speaking of serving, Lauren, despite her cold, has been able to participate in the Choir and Praise Team at the Methodist Church we attend. She felt most welcome and well used. She has sung for several Sunday services and Christmas Eve services, including a Christmas Cantata. Because she loves music and singing, it has provided her with a wonderful outlet and lift during the Christmas season.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, we were launched on Friday, December 21. We spent Saturday madly cleaning and organizing Gratitude and cooking the dinner to be served aboard that night. We had cocktails and appetizers at the hut (which some have chosen to call the Pavilion – sounds better) and on another boat in the yard, and dinner on board different boats, and then all rejoined at the hut for dessert and coffee. It is a fun way to meet people, especially because the organizers split up couples and familiar folks, so we all are forced to meet new people.

And so, Gratitude is becoming more ship shape (see photo taken from same vantage as the last one – of chaos). We have the booms up, the mizzen sail on, and (unless it is too windy tomorrow) we will mount the mainsail and the genoa. We have lots of errands to run: refill low propane tank, get gas for the outboard, buy some more hardware items, finish provisioning – we placed the meat order to be cut, wrapped (no Styrofoam), and frozen for pick-up tomorrow -- and get the engines running. If all goes well, we should be able to take off Thursday morning. If we need to stay a bit longer, we will have to raft onto another boat as we are blocking the launch well and more boats are scheduled for launch early Thursday. Stay tuned!