As usual Christmas Eve saw me up late wrapping last minute presents previously tucked in this or that nook or cranny. Only difference: this year I think I actually found all of the presents I had stashed away (probably a first in at least 5 years ode to fewer really good hiding spots on a boat). The Christmas tree had been decorated, the stockings hung, and there was the traditional reading of “The Night Before Christmas” by Boyd. All was as it should be.

There was of course one other noteworthy exception to the norm. Everything around and under and beside the Christmas tree was moving. The stockings were jogging side to side rather than hanging reposefully in a row as they usually would be. The Christmas tree itself although anchored at the bottom (under the “tree skirt”) with zip-lock baggies full of sand swayed rhythmically.

You see even though our plan to dock in Beaufort SC had actually been realized. Even though we had managed to repair the rudder and make the distance from Charleston to Beaufort in time to come in on Christmas Eve Day a snotty low pressure system had followed us in. We got docked just fine but shortly thereafter it really started to rain. By the time we finished dinner and drove to Wal-Mart the wind had picked up significantly. By the time we’d shopped and drove back (1.5 hours later) there was some definite wave action going on.

Nicole worried about Santa, would he come? Would he be able to get down the wood stove chimney? Would the reindeer be able to keep their footing on the coach roof? No worries about all of that, Santa and the reindeer managed fine but Boyd and I spent the majority of Christmas Eve night and Christmas Morning dashing out into the torrents of rain and buffeting wind to lash another something down or reposition the fenders.

The storm came out of the Southeast. The only direction, I was later informed by a person who should know, that this particular marina wasn’t protected from. The marina, on the west side of the north/south channel, was open to the Southeast and there was a significant fetch coming across the long open channel. It tossed us all night and into the morning. Of course since Santa came presents had to be opened and admired but I decided to fix a much amended Christmas morning breakfast of simple muffins rather than the more elaborate bacon, potatoes and eggs I had planned.

As Christmas morning wore on I wondered if the Christmas dinner that we had planned with the other transient boater was going to be able to happen or not. We had intentionally picked this marina know that our friends on Wind Dust were already here. They had told us about a couple on a sailboat called Breakin’ Wind that they’d been traveling with and we had all eagerly planned a potluck style Christmas dinner in the salon of Passages. I’d been thrilled when arranging the whole thing. To think that we’d have friends over for Christmas Day, but as the weather seemed to get worse instead of better I started to wonder.

Finally about 1:30 in the afternoon a full 12 hours of being beaten against the dock repeatedly began to wane. Within the hour it subsided still more and by the magic hour of 3pm it had stopped raining and it was calm enough to have guests. I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Jesse and Ginny came from Wind Dust and Donna and Rob came from Breakin’ Wind and that made 8 with the four of us. It was a fabulous time of chatting and eating and eating and chatting AND not rocking about wildly. Thanks guys, for making our Christmas so wonderful and memorable!!! Merry Christmas to all!!