David's Diary: Tuesday, December 25, 2001

Christmas Day in Barcelona

After all of the excitement in preparing for Christmas, the children slept in until 7:30. Santa had found the boat and the stockings were filled with goodies. Our Christmas tradition allows the children to open their stockings on their own, but to not wake Karalee and I until 8:00. The children brought us our stockings, which Santa had kindly filled, and we lay in bed opening our first presents on Dragonsinger.

Jocelyn Enjoys Her New Scooter

With the children urging us on, we got up and had a quick breakfast. Allen was bursting with excitement at the long packages under the chart table. He couldn't wait to open his and Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen were delighted to discover that Santa had delivered a scooter to each of them. It wasn't long before all of the presents were open and everyone had something new to play with.

Port Vell

We test drove the scooters on the dock and before we knew it lunch time had arrived. We prepared the turkey and put it in the oven then later in the day, Kevin and I did a scooter ride around Port Vell, the old port of Barcelona. As the sun was setting, we dashed in and out of lots of interesting nooks and crannies in the marina. Tugboats were moored at the dock taking a break on Christmas day. And just a short scooter ride away was the beach with the Mediterranean lapping at the shore.

Port Olímpic

Kevin and I stopped to enjoy the view along the boardwalk to Port Olympic. The port was built for the 1992 summer Olympics and was the venue for all of the sailing events. The two tall towers next to the marina are a distinctive landmark in Barcelona as they are taller than almost all other buildings in the city. One tower houses offices and the other is one of the top hotels in Barcelona.

After our scooter ride it was time to head back to the boat to see how the turkey was coming along in the oven. Dinner time in Barcelona was breakfast time in Western Canada, so we made several phone calls to parents and siblings. In Vancouver, we are more than an hour's plane ride away from the rest of both Karalee's and my family, so being apart at Christmas is normal. While the time zone change was longer, the warm feelings of Christmas cheer were the same when we talked with our family. While much of our Christmas tradition's carried on today, we will always remember our Christmas in Barcelona as something extra special.