Merry Christmas from your loopy loopers!

It feels a little odd to be Christmas time in 90 degree heat and humidity. Something about that just seems wrong somehow. But here we are in Fort Pierce FL celebrating Christmas. The boat looks festive with a couple of strings of solar lights and a few waterproof bows. No Christmas trees or heirloom ornaments. We wanted something different and now we have it!

Fort Pierce goes all out for Christmas with a massive light display coordinated with music. It is mesmerizing. I could watch it for hours. In fact we can see the flashing lights and hear it from the boat. Imagine us sitting on the back deck watching this beautiful display, thinking of you!

Not ready to give up all family social traditions, we organized a Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve. We started with our little group of Loopers: One September (Mike and Judy Hechtkopf from Virginia Beach), Jim's Joy (Jim and Joy from Savannah), Sareanna (Dick and Dee formerly from NJ), and Seaquel (Joe and Edie from Charleston).

We ended up with at least 10 other couples invited along the way or who saw the lights and fun and wandered over. It was a blast!! Everyone brought chairs and tables as we set up this somewhat impromptu gathering. 

The Feast of Seven Fishes is a family tradition in Italian families who used to (and maybe still) abstain from meat on Christmas Eve, feasting instead on fish. Everyone gathers and contributes something. We had the perfect setup: great fish, lots of different possibilities from people who are not with their families. The perfect ingredients for a festival. 

We had a wide variety of contributions: white fish with eggplant, a cold salmon dish, mussels, ceviche, caesar salad with anchovies, bruschetta (2 different kinds) and buffalo shrimp. I should have gotten a picture of the feast table but the crowd kept me from getting close!

I made Nonna's gravy with fettucchini and roast beef. I enjoy cooking in my tiny kitchen. I can do everything I need to do just standing in one place and turning this way and that!

The most difficult part is that I can only fit one pot at a time on the two burner stove. So I heat one pot then move it to the counter, heat another pot and so on. It is like building a puzzle. 
I couldn't find the little hand mixer so I figured out how to use the Ninja blender to make the batter for some yummy pineapple upside down cakes. See how creative you have to be?

Everyone ate, laughed and shared tall tales of boats. I overheard many plans to visit the Bahamas in the next few months. 

Full moon before the sun went down Christmas Eve

After the party broke up (late - about 8pm - we are such sad old people), the core group chatted a while longer. Someone commented how fun this was. They were astonished when we described the wonderful dock parties we have regularly at Venetian. Evidently other places don't do that! So sad about that. Makes us miss our dockmates at Venetian!!

The beautiful Merry moon lit this special Christmas Eve. It was hypnotizing, marking the end of a wonderful evening.

At this Christmas time of the year, we wish you and your families much happiness and cheer!

Merry Christmas,

Katherine and Kermit