Christmas at the Beach

This is the first year we have ever spent Christmas at the beach.  But everything is different this year and it was a good decision for us to come here earlier than usual.  Only one year ago, Martha’s Mama was still alive and her house was decorated thoroughly, as it was for all the seasons and holidays she enjoyed.  We attended the candlelight service at the First Presbyterian Church in Highlands, something we have rarely missed in nearly 40 years, and were in our own home the next morning.  It is hard to believe that only a year ago church services were real, not virtual, in those times before a pandemic took over our lives.

We have adjusted well to staying in this condo facing the ocean, watching the moon and the tides and the Great Conjunction, and running and hiking much more than we would be doing in Highlands.  Martha has decorated the place nicely, mostly from the Dollar Tree just down the road, and we even have a tree in the corner and some humble presents awaiting Christmas morning.  And tomorrow morning we will begin preparing Christmas Dinner – turkey, dressing, rice, gravy, maple-glazed broccoli and sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce.

Yesterday afternoon we drove down the Crystal Coast all the way to Swansboro, looking at Christmas lights on the way back.  Before we had gotten very far, we spotted this beautiful egret, a not uncommon sight out here, standing right along the side of the road next to the salt marsh that backs up on Amos Mosquito restaurant.  I stopped and honked the horn, hoping to see him rise into the air on those huge wings they have, but that did not faze him, nor did he mind us taking as many photos as we liked.

It was a quiet drive on two-lane Highway 58 with little traffic, through Pine Knoll Shore, Salter Path, Indian Beach, and Emerald Isle, and then across two bridges to Swansboro.  We have always enjoyed Swansboro, and in the past we would have driven down for the day, eaten lunch somewhere, and wandered around looking at the historic homes.  But times are different, so we simply drove down to the marina and watched the sunset, brown pelicans winging back and forth across the sunset. 

I have been running harder than usual this week, taking advantage of the good weather – and five miles on Monday and a set of intervals on Wednesday.  Low tide has come round again in the mornings, so I ran back from the picnic area on the beach.  I almost missed this perfect sand dollar in the calm surf, just washed in.  We have only found pieces of them before, but this one was unbroken and whole, a Christmas gift from the Atlantic.

This good day just past low tide
By the calm and shining ocean on a bed of shells,
I found this sand dollar, still pink and trembling,
Washed in on the tide, proof positive,
Whole and undefiled, and I carried it
Carefully back home for you to see,
Cradling it newborn in my faithless hand,
Afraid to blow off the sand lest I break it.

I had planned to take a rest day today, but the weather has turned remarkably balmy ahead of a quickly moving snowstorm, which is predicted to bring snow to Highlands for Christmas morning.  It has been a long time since there has been a White Christmas!  Here, it was 68 degrees, and there was a stiff offshore breeze, so strong that it was blowing mounds of sea foam all along the breaking waves, where it lay quivering as if it was alive.  Little balls of foam would detach themselves and roll wildly across the sand like tumbleweeds, disappearing in the wind and sand.

 We are so fortunate that through the generosity of Martha’s Aunt Lizette we can escape the worst part of the winter, running and hiking and being out of doors here nearly every day.  I have run in snow and ice and sub-freezing temperatures for years in the winter, but the older I am the more difficult it becomes.  And we are fortunate, too, that we can be happy here at Christmas as well as anywhere, because we are at home wherever we are together.  As Mariah Carey sings, All I want for Christmas is you.

Now Christmas Eve is approaching as I write in this blog, gazing out the balcony doors at the ocean, partway open on this still-balmy afternoon.  I will find some Christmas music to play – Carols, The Nutcracker, and then later Messiah.  And we will give thanks for all that we have.  I always remember that lovely quote that Shakespeare has Marcellus say in Hamlet this time of year. 

Some say that ever, 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. 

So to the readers of this blog we wish a Merry Christmas in this hallow’d and gracious time of year.