DAY 12 | December 25, 2021

Miami, Florida

HO HO HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Ron and I set up the bow of the boat for our Christmas celebration, and we basically were figuring out the setup as we went along. We liked the tacky Christmas tree being right on the bowsprit, so we decided to go with it and use zip ties to hang the stockings for everyone on either side of the tree. The presents of course went “under” the tree, and we sent them upstairs “secretly” by sending them UP the “chimney” (aka the hatch just above our bed.)

Whitney and Will came over around noon, and the first thing we did was knock out our Christmas card picture. No one is EVER in the mood for this annual project, and this year was no exception. Kept it as pain-free as possible and took a grand total of TWO self timer pics, looked at them, and decided we were DONE. That has to be an entry in the Hesmer Book of Christmas-Card-Picture-Taking World Records.

We all sat on the bow and had the BEST time opening presents and just hanging out together. It really was the best day, as I hope it was for all of you, simply being surrounded by family, and enjoying a very low-key afternoon.

Everyone seemed pretty pleased with their gifts — even Steve — with the possible exception of Skeet, who opened the KORKZcrew tshirt that he'd seen other family members receive and announced (using his most convincing eye-rolly voice 🙄), "of course — I knew it. A company tshirt". 😂 And he followed that with, "of KORKZ".

There were some pretty hilarious gifts along the way, including one from our sweet friends the Reddins, with whom we’ve done numerous boat charters over the years . . . since Greta and Skeet were 5 and 3 to be exact. The card said “YOU CAN’T LEAVE WITHOUT US!!” and I was really hoping they’d pop out from behind a bush somewhere, but instead it was far worse: they’d sent a picture of themselves and encouraged us to put it on our bedside table 😂. We laughed SO. HARD.

UPDATE: The picture sits on the same throne of honor as my vacuum sealer. Enough said.

As a side note, I hope if anyone out there is inspired to travel by boat that you’ll give it a try. You don’t have to commit to LIVING on a boat to enjoy the freedom of bare boating. (Bare boating just means you are chartering a boat without hiring a captain to drive it). It would be worth it to go after this goal by first obtaining your captain’s license. Ron accomplished this at our local community college. Even if you don’t take a charter boat trip for another 10 or 15 years, take the baby steps NOW to make it happen SOME DAY. You’ll be so glad you did. You could then start small by chartering a boat through a reputable company, and see what you think. The journey we are currently taking was made possible in part by all of the experience we gained from bare boating with George and Christine and their boys to various spots in the Caribbean over the last 16 years. Sharing the expense made it do-able, and we were lucky that NINE of us could survive for 7 to 10 days on a 45’ (or smaller) charter boat. That’s the tricky part: finding friends or family who have the same travel habits as you do. Both our families honestly didn’t KNOW if we’d travel well together. You kind of can’t know these things until you TRY, so why not TRY? We’ve always been super compatible with them, and both families were worried we’d jinx it all and mess up our friendship by living on a boat together for several days, but it ended up just bringing us closer. You learn lots of little details about what works and what doesn’t with boat travel, or what’s practical to pack or not, or what is the best way to provision. And what type of boat to charter, which for us was usually a catamaran because the two hulls give each family their own space. It's SUCH an incomparable and flexible way to experience a beautiful spot like the Bahamas or the Caribbean.

Back to Christmas, and the last gift to be opened was for Will. He couldn't tell what it was at first, and was politely saying complimentary things about this shirt he was unfolding, and probably thinking WTH is this 😂 Turns out he is a HUGE fan of the HBO Series Eastbound and Down. And I mean, a SERIOUS fan. I am pretty sure his commitment to Whitney was sealed when he learned that her hometown was where a lot of it was filmed, and he's even visited the BMW dealership that was featured in the show. ANYWAY, when he realized the shirt was a copy of the fictional star's baseball jersey from the Myrtle Beach Mermen team (😂), his reaction was absolutely priceless. I think it'll be etched in my memory for at least ... 20 minutes, because I can retain absolutely nothing.

Greta was equally excited about her new free skates, which she took for a spin in that gorgeous Bayfront Park near Whitney & Will's hotel. She's got some serious skills when it comes to anything related to skateboarding, surfing, or wakeboarding.

All in all, it was a pretty great day. Thank you, Miami, for such a memorable Christmas! Night night! 🎅🏽❤️🎄

⚓️Consider following our adventures on Instagram. If you've got any questions at all, please feel free to leave us a comment, and I'll do my best to get back to you with an answer. Maybe even a correct one. 😜