Morning dawned still and warm here. Even though there's no snow, no fireplace and no chimney, Santa managed to find us and fill our stockings. While I was waiting for Bud to get up I went out in the cockpit to enjoy the stillness of the dawn. I put a couple of pictures in the gallery.

We opened our stockings and had our breakfast and then took Fuzzy ashore. It was a quiet morning. We had a nice time and talked to family, but it's hard not to be with our daughter and grandson at Christmas.

It's strange to be on the water in such a warm place for Christmas. Two runabouts with families came by and as I was in the cockpit, we all wished each other Merry Christmas.

Bud started cooking (actually, he'd started yesterday) mid-morning for the afternoon potluck organized by a couple of the cruisers. We packed up our stuff at 1:30 and headed over in the dinghy. The laundry room here is a row of washers on one side, a row of dryers on the other with a front and back door. The washers and dryers were covered with plastic tablecloths. People brought their dishes and put them along the tops of the washers and dryers and the line moved from the front door, between the rows of food and out the back door. People ate at and around two picnic pavilions on the grounds. I started taking just a taste of most of the dishes and had a heaping plate full before I got to the back door. It was a great meal with great company, new friends made and many tales of travels and groundings and breakdowns and all the things that cruisers share when they are together. Bud and I estimated that there were about 40 people for the dinner. Fuzzy did pretty well. We brought his bed and put it in the shade near where we ate and had him on his leash. He stood among a group of men who were standing and eating at the end of our pavilion. He whined quietly for food and patrolled the ground for anything that dropped. When the men moved off, Fuzzy lay down in the shade and waited for us to finish talking. I brought a treat and his pill along and at four o'clock he got those. We got back to the boat at five.

It's evening now and all is quiet. It was a different day, but very nice. I wish all of you who read this blog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.