We hope that you are all having an excellent holiday season. Randall and I have been greatly enjoying a break from boat projects and cleaning. The day after helping Whangarei’s Mayor to judge the Town Basin Best Decorated Boat Competition (a very hard-fought contest with five particularly good contenders), we moved Tregoning into a slip at the marina. Then bright and early on December 22nd, we welcomed Randall’s sister, Martha, at Auckland Airport. She had been to New Zealand before on a business trip but that was in the 1970s and with little sightseeing, so we were looking forward to doing a bit of exploring of the Northland (northern part of the North Island) with her.

Unexpectedly, her first day ended-up in the hospital Emergency Room due to a bad cut on her big toe caused by a sharp corner on the dock gate (since padded) but she handled the incident and long wait with great calm and patience. Needless to say, the next day was a quiet one for us but Martha coped with the long flight from California and adapted to the time change remarkably well. We were all back on form for the cruisers’ Christmas Eve Potluck at the marina which was well attended, well supplied with good food, and had an entertaining “White Elephant/Secret Santa” gift-exchange. I had several gifts “stolen” from me but emerged with a toffee pudding and chocolates, so was really quite happy with the outcome. Joined by our friends Lauri and Chuck from SV Free Spirit, we followed the party with a tour (in our rental car) of the half-dozen houses around town with completely over-the-top displays of Christmas lights (as listed in the local newspaper).

Christmas Day brought us bulging stockings (chocolate was well-featured) and another of Randall’s excellent turkey dinners. A British-style Christmas pudding was duly ignited with hot brandy but we saved making the New Zealand specialty of Pavlova (meringue, whipped cream, and fresh summer fruit) until Boxing Day (the next day). We were joined for this delicious dessert by Sabine, Hannes, and their daughter. We had not seen Hannes and Sabine from SV Cayenne (who we first met in Hawai’i) since a brief, chance meeting at the Boat Show in Seattle in early 2013, so it has been wonderful to catch-up with all of their travels since then. It has been a lovely holiday for us here in New Zealand, made all the more special by the presence of Martha and our many cruising friends.