Christmas Eve, 2009

December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve

What a great day we had. This is the day the Earles celebrate Christmas. Ours started out with a big breakfast of Mark’s specialty, chipped beef on biscuits (SOS). We filled up with enough fuel to keep us going ‘til dinner.

The guys set out to pick up the fresh seafood (ahi tuna, jumbo Florida pink shrimp, and scallops), while the ladies went to make reservations for Christmas morning buffet at the Holiday Inn. That is where we found the colorful ‘gator. We all met at Smuggler’s Cove, a miniature golf course. Mark and I thought it might have been high school when we last did this. The little course had live alligators, but they were not hungry as it was too cold. (This fact was comforting to me after kayaking in ‘gator country not too long ago). We all did well, but Bryan again showed off his skill and came in with the best score.

After golfing, we moved back to the boat – I started meal preparations while Mark took the ladies out for a tour in the dinghy. They were in luck and found dolphins. We have been told that there are two pods of dolphins that live in Estero Bay. Matt and I prepared the ahi tuna for cooking and peeled the shrimp. The menu consisted of seared sesame tuna (http://ezinearticles.com/?Seared-Sesame-Encrusted-Ahi-Tuna-Steak-Recipe&id=1161596), shrimp and bacon wrapped scallop kabobs on the grill, wasabi dressing (http://www.johndoe.org/jquan/recipes/salad/wasabi.html), pickled ginger (http://www.gardenguides.com/1436-ginger.html), cucumber coleslaw w/o green pepper and celery (http://www.idylwildefarm.com/Salad%20-%20Cucumber%20Coleslaw.htm), and grilled vegetables with cheesecake or key lime pie for dessert. The family loved the meal so I have included links to the recipes here. Maybe you all will enjoy as well.

Gift giving is always fun and this night was no exception. We had found little local items for the kids and Judy such as handmade soaps and sponges for the ladies and chamois for the guys from Tarpon Springs. As you can see it didn’t take the guys long to find alternative uses for the chamois. We received a Kindle reading machine with two downloads from the kids and a subscription for 12 books from audible.com from Judy. What perfect gifts for us as we travel on the boat – we can hardly wait to use them.

We attempted a family photo after the frivolity. It was too dark and with repeated attempts, we couldn’t get a good one. I have included two that we did take – can you spot the difference between the two? Which one do you like better?