12/25/2014   Merry Christmas, one and all.

A conundrum.  How did we get the greeting "Merry Christmas"?  "Merry" is so light, jovial, playful, maybe mercantile. "Christmas" is Christ Mass, a religious event. I'm thinking Glorious Christmas or Merry Holiday or Celebrate Light or.... Just curious, why those two words which seem a bit antithetical.

Meanwhile, a glorious day - Glorious Christmas! No hurry today and besides, it was too foggy to move the boat until around 10 AM.

Halifax River anchorage in Daytona, FL

We had coffee and my favorite Christmas sweet bread - Panotoni (sp?) on the front deck. Amelia came out to join us and we FORCED her to be involved in a selfie family portrait.

Amelia is like a small kid who doesn't want photo taken. Look at those evil eyes.

We did pull up anchor and head through all the bridges to New Smyrna. The day was pretty and pretty easy and short. We passed our current favorite marina - 7 Seas - without stopping for a beach trip. Sigh. My choice to keep moving but...sigh. I was really hoping for a Christmas Day swim in the ocean. We tried to get to the beach at New Smyrna but the wind was really strong. Not a good anchoring day and not a good beach day. Another sigh.

So here we are at the Free town dock. Took a long walk into closed town. Christmas Day, remember? We grilled on the back deck, our second time this trip.

Now we're listening to John Rutter, making next leg of journey plans, and watching the beautiful full moon rise on this warm evening.

Christmas full moon, New Smyrna, FL

Gratitude continues.