Yesterday’s winner will be named at the end of this posting! ~DD

Here’s hoping everyone spent Christmas day surrounded by family.

My parents and I descended on my daughter and her family. So we got to watch the 11-month-old unwrap gifts (translated: play with wrapping paper). The six-year-old is in Texas with her daddy, and we missed her, but got a chance to concentrate on the other baby’s first Christmas. Getting to Hot Springs was a little tricky though. With all the rain we’ve had, the roads leading to Arkadelphia were flooded. At Clear Lake (someone with a wicked sense of humor named it because it’s a murky swamp with alligators), I did try to see how far I could get, but when the water got 6-inches deep and I couldn’t see the edges of the road, I turned back and took a different route.

Our meal was great and very relaxed—something I will no doubt look back on with fondness because I’m back on my diet today. Turns out I only gained six pounds on the trip. I didn’t backslide that far!

But it was enough to keep me out of those “booty jeans” yesterday. 😥

Anyway, back to the cruise. A funny thing happened in St. Thomas. I forgot to take pictures of the town because I got caught up in a shopping frenzy. If you’ve never been there, it’s a mecca for jewelry. I caught the fever! I bought two sets (ring, earings, and pendant) of bright blue topaz and purple tanzanite and tons of semiprecious stone bracelets, which I gave away as Christmas gifts. So the photos that follow were taken after I’d finished most of my shopping.

Except these first two. When we debarked at the dock, these tourist taxis that sat a dozen people met us to take us into town. All of them were brightly colored and decorated. We didn’t ride with “The Muscle Man” but I had to snap a pic.

Here’s a view of St. Thomas from the dock.

I didn’t pull out my camera again until lunch time. We sampled island fare, ordering three dishes that we shared.

This is the conch fritters we ate. Who knew an ugly little shellfish would taste so good?

This is a jerked chicken wrap and a shrimp quesadilla. We were both starved at this point and the food was a real treat. Yes, those are my cigs on the table. Just wait until January 1st when I start sharing my attempt to quit using Chantix. The prescription sits on my bathroom counter, waiting for me to be ready to start.

After we finished our meal, I had one more place I wanted to hit before we returned to the boat. Sasha was shopped out, so she took my camera. She liked the Christmas bulbs she found hanging from a tree in the square.

There’s me in the center of the picture, walking away with a shopping bag in my hand.

She caught up with me in that final shop and took this. We are both shiny, windswept, and slightly sunburned as well. But don’t we look like we’re having fun?

This is back at the boat. There were three cruise ships lined up at the dock. Our Royal Caribbean ship, a Carnival ship and a Norwegian one. They are just too huge to get into one shot together!

Goodbye, St. Thomas! You can see the other cruise ships still lined up at the dock.

I loved this view of St. Thomas from the water with the boats bobbing in our wake. Eat our waves, suckers!

Another shot because I couldn’t stop with just one!

This picture in its original form is gorgeous and frame-worthy. It’s of condos by the sea.

Here we are heading out into open seas again!

Yesterdays’ winner is… Rasha!