Julebukking and the Community Holiday Concert wrapped up the holiday season here.  The concert showcased a variety of musical talent, including Jim singing with the Oxford Carolers.Jim has really gotten into baking – not the healthiest hobby – but this year he was very generous and (thankfully) gave most of his homemade cookies away as gifts.  He also won the boat category for best holiday lights from the Chamber of Commerce, though there was virtually no competition.  He keeps upping his game every year hoping to inspire others to decorate their boats, but since most of the boats in the harbor are commercial fishing boats…

The inside of the boat has been decorated, and we even have a “boat tree” made by my old Sea Scout buddy – it’s perfect.Many of you keep asking about Julebukking… so besides reading the link to Wikipedia, I’ll just say that it’s a chance for all the local businesses and organizations around town to say thank you to all their customers.  They offer cookies, treats, things like smoked salmon, cold cuts, cheese, veggies, fruit and usually some kind of punch.  Each business tends to have something special that they do, and the hosting events are spread across the calendar, leading up to Christmas.  It means days of gastronomic debauchery for all of us…The airport had a nice spread, though it gets a bit crowded if you come too close to flight time.  The hardware store had a fabulous selection this year, with meatballs, wings, pickled herring, smoked salmon, lefse… and everyone’s favorite: “moose milk”, made with softened ice cream and White Christmas liquor in a 5 gallon paint can, shaken in the paint shaker.Coastal Seafood had huge piles of shrimp – cajun and regular, and the pharmacy had their usual – fantastic pastrami sandwiches… served by Santa’s elves.We went to Christmas dinner with friends, many who also live aboard boats in the harbor.  Our hosts almost had a disaster with the Christmas ham.  A few days before Christmas their refrigerator was pretty full and the weather was quite cold, so they set the ham in the garage.  A moment’s inattention leaving the garage door open was all it took for the ravens to find the ham and just start to attack the wrapping.  The ham was saved before they got it open, but you have to move fast because the ravens are faster.

It was a nice holiday, but now we’re tired – trying to shake the sugar addiction and eating lots of salad!  The days are slowly getting longer – we gained another 2 minutes since yesterday.  We’ll take every minute we can get.