Dear friends and family,

I've never written a Christmas letter before, but of all years, this seemed like one that required that we let you all know where we are and what changes this year has brought to our lives. Joel and I are now in Mazatlan, Mexico and pinching ourselves at the realization that we are finally experiencing our dream of cruising.

We started 2006 knowing that drugs had not "fixed" Joel's heart issues and that surgery would be required in early January. After 7 hours in the operating room and an overnight in the hospital, he was able to resume working on the long list of boat projects. His cardiologist gave us the "Go" sign and in August we did. I retired (again) after a wonderful year at Zymogenetics, working on a project that had great personal interest for me (35 years ago I did early research for the product) with a wonderful group of co-workers. My travel schedule (about 75%) meant that Joel had lots of time to work on all the boat projects while I was out of town and not complaining about the mess.

When we named our sailboat "360�", our ambitious plan was to quickly hurry to Spain for the America's Cup racing and then complete our circumnavigation and then go back to visit all the spots that we really liked. What were we thinking?

Because of our year late cruising start, we knew we could not sail to Spain in time, but we were able to realize our goal of seeing some Cup racing by flying to Spain for a visit with friends Vicky MacFeidh and Antoine who, as the perfect hosts. They were able to get us rides on the Luna Rosa VIP boat and served us fresh squeezed Valencia orange juice for breakfast each day. It was wonderful to visit them and especially great to have Kevin Carey join us there for his 40th birthday celebration. While we were there, Joel was able to do one more J-24 Italian Nationals race with the Tundra Rose crew. The time in Europe reinforced our desire to be sailing the Mediterranean with our own boat.

The months before our departure were filled with an extensive Wilderness Medicine First Responder Class for me, Joel's final flurry of boat projects and shopping, visits with family and friends, and more good-by parties than I think any boat has ever had.

In the almost 4 months since we left Seattle, we have traveled more than 2000 miles and changed our future cruising plans many times, and I think that is the way it supposed to be. We have had the joy of sharing parts of the voyage with some of you and look forward to visits from many more of you. We have made wonderful new friends along the way who share this new lifestyle with us. We have learned a lot about the boat, (broken and fixed a few things). Joel hasn't been able to stop making "to do lists", but the priority has shifted to exploring each of the new places we have visited. We've taken some intensive Spanish classes and are working on our vocabulary. I've read a lot of books, and I am practicing my Mexican cooking.

We have our Christmas decorations up and are planning a "Open Boat" party for Christmas Eve and are looking forward to a holiday visit from Mike and Sarah. The Mexican people love to celebrate Christmas and we are joining in on the local posadas. The new year will bring visits from friends Terri and Lyman Potts (after their wild and windy sail down the coast to Seattle, they deserve some sunny Mexican sailing), my sister Joanne and husband Chuck and friends the "Iowa Republicans", Kevin and grandkids Meagan and Dylan, and the crew of Tundra Rose for the J25 Worlds in Puerto Vallarta and friends Jessica and Jim Thomas in Z-Town. We hope that any of the rest of you who need a sun break will come on down.

Because of the internet connections available in most marinas, we have been able to keep in better contact with you than we thought we would. This morning we listened to Seattle's NPR station streaming the news of the horrible weather and traffic jams. Though we don't envy you those aspects of home, we do miss all of you, especially as the holidays approach. News from home means so much to us. The first pictures of Brian and Amy Jo's new baby, Brielle, and the news that Sarah and Mike will have a baby in July made us realize that our voyage does not have to be non-stop. The current plan is to leave the boat in Mexico next summer (I know I don't do well in temperatures over 90�) and come home to visit, so be ready to see us show up on your doorsteps.

Our New Year's resolution will be to do a better job of updating our sailing blog, http://sailblogs.com/member/360/ be sure to look at our photo gallery. Please write and let us know about your year. You can send long notes and pictures to this e-mail address (hint).

Feliz Navidad y Prospero A�o Nuevo,

Love,

Mary and Joel