La Paz, Part II: Christmas Is In The Air!
(November 29 – December 2, 2017) After weeks of Morgan asking, we’d finally procured proper Christmas decor. With our bags full of festive goodies, we cabbed back to the marina, and the girls got busy decorating the boat for Christmas! For the Christmas tree, we wrapped the mast step in garland and lights, and adorned it with ornaments. I was surprised at how Christmas-y it felt on board!
You see, I love that magical time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The weather is cold, rainy, and windy, and the house so warm and cozy; there are parties every weekend; the days are short and dark, but filled with the colorful, glowing light of exterior lights, interior decorations, and firelight. We typically go all-out making the house holiday ready, so that the warm feeling of Christmas shines at every turn.
Black Friday was always spent at the Christmas tree farm across the valley, choosing the perfect 16-foot Christmas tree. Then, we’d spent a good 30 minutes trying to secure it to the car in a way that we can still see out of at least part of the front windshield, and very, very carefully driving it home. The next two hours involved digging out the tree stand; finding the chainsaw to trim and make a fresh cut on the bottom, and hosting the tree with grunts and lines like a totem pole. By dinner time, the tree was up, ready for lighting, and the house smelled like a piney dream.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving was traditionally light day. I would wake up early, and spend most of the early morning stringing lights on the Christmas tree. I’d finish the bottom quarter, and by then the family would be awake, fed, and ready for action, so the girls and I would head outside and dig out our outdoor lights. We’d put as many lights into our tiny front yard as we could. I would string them across the eave over the garage door, while the girls would put them on any bushes they could reach – or just on the lower half of the bushes if that was all they could reach. I tried not to be too particular about how the girls placed the lights, because their joy was in their contribution. Before kids, my joy was in the perfection, but I managed to adjust over the years. By lunchtime, we’d be so cold we could barely move our fingers anymore, so we’d head inside for some hot chocolate and an afternoon break. The girls would relax in front of the fireplace, while I continued lighting the tree. By the end of the weekend, the tree and the house would be fully decked, and there was no escaping that warm, happy Christmas feeling that would last for the next month.
But here, I hadn’t gotten into the Christmas mood at all. Swimsuits, sunshine, blue water, braided hair, and dorado simply weren’t indicative of Christmas.
But then, that afternoon, the girls spent over an hour decorating the boat, and their mast-step Christmas “tree,” and finally the winter warm fuzzies filled a small corner of my soul. It wasn’t a brimming, overflowing warm fuzzy feeling like I got back home with family, and cold weather with warm fires, but for our first Christmas in the tropics, it was a victory.
The next day, the Christmas festivities continued in full swing when we invited the girls from Taliesin Rose over to make Christmas cookies! Back home, every year, I tried to get together a Christmas cookie making party. But, between schedules, and diets, and busy-ness, and schedules, it never worked out – not once! This year, though, we had great friends close by who, like us, had decided to make quality time a priority. This resulted in a Christmas cookie extravaganza on our boat! Other than help with the oven, the girls made the cookies – including reading the recipe and measuring – all by themselves. They did a great job!
The following day we took a brief break from the over-the-top Christmas festivities, mostly to play. Mexico continued the effort to get me in the Christmas mood.
But then the next day, the Christmas celebration was back on! Once again, the girls from Taliesin Rose joined us for an art project. What’s a better holiday art project than a gingerbread house?!
The next day was Saturday, and we were preparing to head north. First we’d stop at Balandra, and then head to Espiritu Santos. It’s a protected island group, and permits are required to land there. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten to go get the permits. It was Saturday, so all the government offices were closed – my only chance was to get them at the Whale Museum on the malecón. Little did I know, I was walking right into a drug cartel shooting about to happen.
