christmas in key largo, FL.

we stayed anchored in tarpon basin for FOUR days!   this was mainly because we were watching this weather front and wanted to be somewhere protected but the other thing is that we really didn't have to be anywhere and i can't emphasize enough how relaxing this is. as for christmas, lots of pics and posts on facebook of people getting together, food they ate, how the children have grown, lights, gifts, decorations, MORE FOOD...  i can't speak for tom but i, personally, didn't miss any of it - the internet makes the world so much smaller and for me, it really is enough - i can watch other people do their thing and ooh and ahh without actually having to be there, and except for mikey's call on christmas day, my phone would have been silent.  i suppose that makes me a little strange :)  the fact of the matter is that i really don't need to eat any more than i do - i'm getting too fat!  i also didn't have to dress or be anywhere at a certain time or worry about presents or wrapping or any of those other silly obligations that we saddle ourselves with.  i was happy sitting here in front of my computer, working (YES, WORKING!  i've always volunteered to work the holidays - it gives other people the opportunity to take off to celebrate with their families since it doesn't make all that much of a difference to me anyway) - what it amounts to, essentially, in my mind, is NO stress.  i sort of like my routine.  other people don't see it that way but that's just me - we all have our own little quirks.

the front came in on christmas day at around 12:30 a.m.  it's a lucky thing that i went to bed unusually early on the eve because i was up again at 1:00 a.m.  tom had already been up, bringing the bimini down and making all sorts of preparations.  we got a lot of rain and a lot of wind and then we got a 180-degree wind shift.  we actually didn't get anything alarming but just the same, it wasn't until 3:00 a.m. that we went back to bed.  the anchor may have moved quite a bit before biting again and settling down but it didn't really show on tom's anchor alert app.  the funny thing is that we tried to time consuelo's going ashore in between downpours and both times got caught in it.  oh well, but it wasn't cold rain like it would have been in the chesapeake this time of year.  it was all good - like i said, relaxing.  nothing spectacularly special, but nice.  the rain cleared out christmas morning but the wind stayed until the evening.  we just stayed home and did our thing.  see, this is the key - OUR "thing."  not somebody else's "thing."  tom asked me what i wanted to do (it being christmas and all), and i said, "nothing, absolutely nothing!"  but we took the dinghy out that afternoon and explored through the mangroves, canals and tunnels.  i tell you, the mangroves COULD be considered creepy sometimes with all that root network plunging into the water.  it was totally silent - just the pee water from the outboard splashing back down into the water and then the echo bouncing all around.  not even critter sounds.  but i don't creep out easily. 

mangrove tunnel

looks kinda creepy

and just so as not to say that christmas isn't special, we did have a very nice meal - it was christmas, after all, and some traditions are hard to break.  but it wasn't an exhausting, run here, run there kind of christmas with reminders everywhere from everyone and their mother on what we SHOULD think christmas is about - except on facebook, of course, but people are entitled to their opinion, which can easily be X'd out anyway.  what can i say? i love the internet because i am a control freak :)

bottom line - i had time to read my book and that's always such a treat for me so, yes, christmas anchored in tarpon basin, key largo, was pretty darn good.