David's Diary: Monday, December 24, 2001

Christmas Decorations

Christmas traditions vary around the world. In Canada, many people decorate their houses with bright lights (long, dreary, and dark winter nights need some brightening). In France and Spain, individual houses are not decorated on the outside, but even in small villages, Christmas lights are hung along the main street. On board Dragonsinger, we started our own Christmas traditions. We used decorations that we found in Barcelona to decorate the steering wheel. As the stern of the boat is next to the dock, the wheel is our "public face" to the world, and we wanted everyone that the boat was ready for Christmas.

Ready For Santa

Our Christmas stockings were hung and all was ready for the big day. The only question was whether Santa had GPS so that he could find us in the Mediterranean. The children made lots of decorations that were hanging from the ceiling and our homemade Christmas tree was waiting for the presents.

Shopping For The Turkey

Christmas tradition in the Greer family is to have a turkey for Christmas. As today is Christmas Eve, the children and I left early for the local market. We picked out a turkey for Christmas, but I took our roasting pan with us. While the lady behind the counter raised her eyebrows, she did make sure that the turkey would fit in the pan. No point having a Christmas turkey if you can't roast it.

Turkeys are sold a bit differently here in Barcelona than they are in Canada. The turkey is mostly dressed, but at the market the final preparations are done. For example, both turkeys and chickens are sold with the neck and head still attached. The children watched with interest as the neck and head were cut off right in front of their eyes. And even when we got the turkey home there were still a few feathers that had to be removed before it was ready for the oven. Somehow this experience all seems more real than the plastic-wrapped turkeys that we are used to.

Christmas Sunset

Before we knew it the day was over and our Christmas preparations were at an end. It was a mad dash to get everything done, but Christmas is just a few hours away and all that is left to do is wrap the few final gifts. As the sun sets over Port Vell we reflect that no matter where you are, Christmas is special when you have the family together. We celebrate many firsts this Christmas -- first time on the boat and first time away from Canada to name but two. Yet in many ways we feel closer to Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen than we ever have. The events of 2001 and being so far away from all of our family and friends somehow make us feel closer to all of them.