{"id":4472,"date":"2016-12-29T15:08:32","date_gmt":"2016-12-29T23:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=4472"},"modified":"2016-12-29T15:08:32","modified_gmt":"2016-12-29T23:08:32","slug":"oranges-scented-at-sea-12252016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=4472","title":{"rendered":"Oranges Scented – At Sea \u2013 [12\/25\/2016]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I\u2019ve said before that Christmas on ships is a very odd circumstance, just when you think you\u2019ve got a wisp of the edges of it, something usually pops up to distract you and then poof<\/em> it\u2019s gone again. With our own celebrations becoming things that are slid carefully in between the celebrations we provide for the guests, Christmas runs the very real chance of simply becoming another working day\u00a0 – albeit with a lot more decoration.<\/p>\n

The old adage: \u201cWhat happens in show business when a holiday comes along? You put on an extra performance.\u201d Is no less true out here than it is on a \u2018normal\u2019 stage.<\/p>\n

But there are times, small times, when that changes, there are times when it feels<\/em> like Christmas.<\/p>\n

One of those times is first thing Christmas morning, when we all gather in the show room \u2013 even those of us who aren\u2019t scheduled to be there (myself and Amras for example, both there, both wearing Santa hats and eagerly accepting egg nog), along with basically every child on board, even the teenagers. Once the hour strikes 10 and everyone is gathered, the first ship-wide announcement goes on.<\/p>\n

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, this is the officer of the watch speaking from the bridge. We have detected an unidentified flying object which seems to be moving through the sky directly towards the ship. We do not at this time anticipate any danger, but we will keep you appraised of the situation as it develops.<\/em><\/p>\n

Following announcements declared that the object in question was in fact a sleigh drawn by nine reindeer \u2013 bearing Santa to the decks of the flagship.<\/p>\n

They call the children by ages groups, the youngest going first, but the one that always touches me is when they open the opportunity up to anyone, of any age, to come and have their picture taken with the man in red himself; and you see grandmothers and teenagers up there smiling unbelievably wide smiles. Reminding you that Christmas is not just for kids in adorable pajamas.<\/p>\n

The rest of the day passed in a blur, I was still teaching, Amras was still playing. As I\u2019ve mentioned before, our Christmas is in between everyone else\u2019s. But that does make you appreciate the little things though; the long distance phone call home while you open your presents, Christmas movies on the crew channel, and the organized chaos of the crew Christmas dinner they give every season.<\/p>\n

It never starts out as chaos of course. One entire ride of the buffet restaurant\u00a0 – the one not open to crew regularly \u2013 is barricaded off and set with full formal tables. Everyone dresses up and meets for cocktails before being escorted to sit down for a full four course meal. After that the orders always get mixed up and sometimes forgotten all together, but no one cares, because we\u2019re family out here, and family is always a little bit crazy.<\/p>\n

Santa doesn\u2019t normally visit the crew, but there are always little gifts exchanged (\u201cI give you a tie, you give me a book\u201d), little things between friends. I got one of my closest cast member friends \u2013 Claura \u2013 a copy of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, which caused her to squeal with joy before she handed me a beautiful wrapped miniature music box that will always be a jewellery box. \u00a0Mum and Dad sent me a beautiful new Pandora charm in the shape of a Christmas tree.<\/p>\n

And I did get one massive present that I wasn\u2019t even remotely expecting from Amras,<\/p>\n

So do you want me to see a picture of what it is you\u2019re going to be receiving in the mail?<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m torn, I want the surprise, but if I get it too late you won\u2019t be phone-able for my reaction<\/em><\/p>\n

True, okay. Sit.<\/em><\/p>\n

Are you sure?<\/em><\/p>\n

Yup. Sit.<\/em><\/p>\n

This\u2026is the guitar you will be receiving.<\/em><\/p>\n

My guitar! He found my guitar! And not just any guitar the<\/em> guitar. The Epiphone Emily the Strange guitar. We saw it in Brazil last year, and had to walk out without it \u2013 which I have been kicking myself about ever since. It\u2019s a collector\u2019s item, and remarkably hard to find, I have no idea how he managed it! What I said at the time, when we were in Brazil, was if I had that<\/em> guitar, I would learn how to play.<\/p>\n

So now I\u2019m going to need to put my money where my mouth is and learn a new hobby! Which I am abnormally excited about.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t about any of that. Not at all. Christmas never is. \u00a0It\u2019s about the feeling that you get when you\u2019re with family, no matter how far apart you are or how much you sometimes disagree; you\u2019re still family. I am lucky enough to often get the \u201cDolly in the Corner\u201d but I have never forgotten \u2013 and never will \u2013 that it\u2019s all about the oranges.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve said before that Christmas on ships is a very odd circumstance, just when you think you\u2019ve got a wisp of the edges of it, something usually pops up to distract you and then poof it\u2019s gone again. With our … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[74,92,17,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holiday-cruises","category-holiday-cruises-2016","category-reflections-below-the-waterline","category-tropical-rain-2016"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-1a8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4472","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=4472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4474,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4472\/revisions\/4474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}