{"id":2837,"date":"2013-12-24T22:50:30","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T06:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=2837"},"modified":"2013-12-24T22:50:30","modified_gmt":"2013-12-25T06:50:30","slug":"without-ribbons-puerto-vallarta-mexico-12232013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=2837","title":{"rendered":"Without Ribbons \u2013 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico \u2013 [12\/23\/2013]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Yule_by_Zarzamorita.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-2838\" alt=\"Yule_by_Zarzamorita\" src=\"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Yule_by_Zarzamorita.jpg\" width=\"324\" height=\"456\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Yule_by_Zarzamorita.jpg 600w, https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Yule_by_Zarzamorita-213x300.jpg 213w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 324px) 100vw, 324px\" \/><\/a>It\u2019s so hard to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve\u2026it\u2019s so easy to lose track of the days out here. Besides, as I know I\u2019ve said before \u2013 Christmas out here doesn\u2019t really \u2026<i>feel<\/i> \u2026like Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>Christmas ship-side is all glitz and glamour and sunshine and man-made magic. Yes, we can make snow where there should be no snow, we can track Santa Claus on our radar and we have some of the most beautiful Christmas trees many people have ever seen but it\u2019s all\u2026missing something.<\/p>\n<p>At least it is for many of the crew. You really are so busy creating Christmas for everyone else out here \u2013 that is for the people who are paying to be here \u2013 that you don\u2019t really have time to feel it for yourself.\u00a0 Sad as it is to say, absent from our families (both blood and \u2018adopted\u2019), absent from all the people that your heart misses so very much, December the 25<sup>th<\/sup> runs the risk of becoming just another day.<\/p>\n<p>Though you can\u2019t show that of course.<\/p>\n<p>Most of us have Christmas before we even board. I imagine it\u2019s a lot like families who have loved ones in the armed forces; you simply transplant holidays, celebrating them when the people who matter to you are at your side instead of miles away. If that means we celebrate Christmas in July? Well that\u2019s what you do. For my part, I had a near perfect Christmas three days before I boarded the plane for San Francisco; there was only one person missing, and that couldn\u2019t be helped. In fact it felt <i>so much<\/i> like Christmas that we kept forgetting that it was only the 15<sup>th<\/sup>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Which goes to show you that it isn\u2019t the date that\u2019s important; it never has been. It\u2019s not where you are, or what you\u2019re doing. It\u2019s about the people you love, the people your heart needs, the people who give your soul its wings.<\/p>\n<p>And if you think of it that way\u2026well then Christmas will come\u2026whatever the time of year\u2026whether you have a nine foot tree or not a single strand of tinsel\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s so hard to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve\u2026it\u2019s so easy to lose track of the days out here. Besides, as I know I\u2019ve said before \u2013 Christmas out here doesn\u2019t really \u2026feel \u2026like Christmas. Christmas ship-side is all &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=2837\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,73,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-below-the-waterline","category-holiday-cruises-2013","category-reflections-below-the-waterline"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-JL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2839,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2837\/revisions\/2839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}