Have a Very Boating Christmas
by Barb Hansen
December  2009

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

I could go on.  As a kid I knew the words to almost every Christmas poem or song. Maybe I still do. When I hear a few notes of a holiday melody at the mall or on the radio the lyrics come flooding back.

Melodies and poems we learned as children are the best. They prompt memories of the excitement we felt at Santa's after midnight visit to every house. He was, of course, loaded up with toys, most of them for us.

Christmas is for kids, they say, but when those melodies and rhymes come flooding back I realize Christmas is for grown-ups, too. The childhood memories are great, for sure, but the best part is that as adults we can get excited about toys that really matter. Like boats and boating gear.

So now, when one of those old sets of lyrics get stuck in my head, I change the subject. Just slightly.

On the dock before Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all 'long the dock

Nothing was stirring, not even the wind sock.

The stockings were hung on the pilings with care

In hopes that St. Nicholas would be tying up there.

The Crew was all nestled snug in their beds

While visions of calm seas danced in their heads.

With the Captain in Topsiders and me in flip-flops

We’d just finished star-gazing on the fly bridge up top.

When up on the deck there arose such a clatter

We sprang from our bunks to see what was the matter

Out of the bed I flew in a dash,

Ran up the aft steps and threw open the hatch.

The full moon illuminated the boats all around,

While local cruisers and creatures made not a sound.

When up on the bridge deck what dropped in

But a yacht full of toys pulled by eight blue dolphins.

Hey, I'm just getting started. I recall those white and brown winters back home in Indiana. Believe me, it was easy to learn to like Florida's blue-green winters.

White Christmas. Not.

I'm dreaming of a blue-green Christmas, unlike the ones I used to know

Where the water glistens, and grown-ups hasten, to join cruises on the go.

Deck the hull

Deck the hull with a store-bought tree, fa la la la la la la la la.

'Tis the season to cruise with glee, fa la la la la la la la la.

Don we now our boating apparels, fa la la la la la la la la.

To explore those peaceful Florida channels, fa la la la la la la la la.

Rudy the rum-punch skipper

Rudy the rum punch skipper, had a very shiny glow

When one gala yacht club eve, he started singin'

With funny antlers blinking on his head

Then all the other reindeer called him Blitzen.

Oops. I need your help on that last one. For now, I'll take off my lighted earrings to say, quite seriously, I wish you a very boating Christmas.