Going to hang a few Christmas lights today in the yard and I'm debating on either the Palm Tree or the Flamboyant Tree, which just seems funny. Growing up in Maine, really makes celebrating Christmas in the Caribbean feel...well, different. I'm not saying that I miss the Christmas tree, believe it or not I could buy one here, and I definitely don't miss the snow, what I miss most is my family and everyone gathering around in the kitchen. Of course I miss all the yummy Christmas cookies that my mom bakes.

While reminiscing about pass Christmases I came across these photographs I made during a Holiday trip that I spent in Norway a few years back. Although I wasn't with my family, it was one of the warmest, and most loving memories that I have of the Christmas Holiday. I mean santa even showed up to give us all presents, it was truly magical.

 This how it looked when I first arrived in Oslo and was on the train headed north to Rykkin. 

 We all went to church on Christmas and I couldn't understand a word of Norwegian, the singing was still beautiful.

 The Vigeland Sculpture Park is in Oslo, it has 212 bronze and granite sculptures that cover over 80 acres. The sculptures where created by Gustav Vigeland and is a must see!

 Santa is digging for my present, yay!!

 This was the amazing, REALLY AMAZING, little community that I stayed in in Rykkin, Norway.

Thank you to the Gustavsen family for having me and making these memories possible.

XOXO

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend, our first at Sweet Bottom (the nickname of our beach cottage.) Eric's sister, Jen, flew down from Maryland and his father, Rick, came over from St. Thomas on Thursday to start the cooking and festivities while Eric was working on a day charter to Virgin Gorda. We put the turkey in the oven and walked down to Francis Beach for a refreshing swim. Dinner was amazing, we're almost out of turkey.

The next day we hiked to Leinster Bay and snorkeled around  Waterlemon Cay and relaxed around the house. On Saturday we all took the ferry over to St. Thomas to spend the night at Eric's family home on Mountain Top. Rick recently removed the living room furniture and put a ping pong table in and we barbecued salmon and veggies, had cocktails and played ping pong. After an evening of dining and playing we settled into the hot tub on the porch with the most amazing views of St. John and the British Virgin Islands. I truly had such a great turkey day weekend spending it with Eric's family, they made me feel right at home.

    Well, Thanksgiving is this week and I am reminiscing about what I was doing last year at this time. Last year we rented a catamaran, Sarah Sue, and spent the week of Thanksgiving sailing around the British Virgin Islands. We started our trip out of St. Thomas and spent the first night on the boat at Jost Van Dyke, and then sailed to Nanny Cay, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, Saba Rock, Norman Island, Sandy Cay and a couple other little places too.