I was up late last night (midnight Mass, though started at 11:30pm, still kept me up way past my usual bedtime), and couldn't believe it when we both slept until 8:15am, and only awakened then because the ship's thrusters were being used to dock the ship (backwards) in St. Kitts. There was an uncoordinated dash to the bathroom (one of those moments when I think, "Who needs a balcony?; we need a second bathroom") in our attempt to get to the International Cafe and then to breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room before the doors closed at 9am. Surprisingly, there was still a line up at the dining room door when we arrived; apparently everyone thought Christmas breakfast in the dining room was a good idea.
Meanwhile, the bridge was keeping us updated about a UFO they'd sighted, and they could see a red coat and white beard and reindeer through their binoculars. Such excitement! When we left the dining room shortly after 9:30am (just cereal for us this morning), we walked into the midst of Christmas morning in the Piazza. First and most important, of course, was that the big man himself was seated there in front of a holiday photo backdrop.
Santa's elves, who looked astonishingly like the Emerald Princess dancers dressed in those darling Christmas costumes from the show last night, were posing for photos and directing the kids to and from Santa. I don't know who Santa was (he was looking his most authentic best, and had an English or Scottish accent), but he did an incredible job interacting with the kids and handing out presents and getting jiggy to the Christmas carols. It was nothing short of perfect.
(And I have a darling video to upload to YouTube (it actually moved me to tears) when I get fast enough wifi )
After the little kids had passed through, the older, unbelieving kids did the same, but I suspect that they mostly wanted to stand close to the elves for a photo. And, speaking of that, it's is nothing short of astonishing how tall and slim and beautiful the dancers are when standing next to us mere mortals. We usually see them with each other on stage, where they're all so gorgeous that no one stands out, but, I'm telling you, these are some really perfectly beautiful people.
Also taking place at the same time was Pelican Pete's Holiday Fair. There were different stations set up all around Deck 5 of the Piazza with cookie decorating, ornament decorating, button making and face painting. And as much as the kids were loving all this, I think that the parents and grandparents were enjoying it even more.
Other Christmas activities on board:
It's a Wonderful Life shown all day on Channel 37 on TV
10:00am: A Christmas Story (known in our house as You'll Shoot Your Eye Out) on MUTS
10:30am, 8pm and 10pm: crew caroling in the Piazza
1:00pm: movie Four Christmases in the Princess Theater
3:00pm: Miracle on 34th Street (the good one, not the horrid David Hartman remake) on MUTS
6pm, 8pm and 9:45:pm The Santa Claus on MUTS
10pm: holiday karaoke in Club Fusion
I'll end this post now, as it has so many photos, and continue blogging about the rest of our day (which I'm guessing won't be too exciting given the cold one of us has) in a subsequent post.