Day 7 was a nice, lazy, Christmas day. We were able to sleep in because there was nothing we had to get up for. Justin had a migraine the night before, so we'd actually gone to bed relatively early. Now, I'm usually a pretty light sleeper, and all night I'd been up to the bathroom a few times (I drink too much during the days :), so imagine my GREAT surprise when there a full Christmas stocking next to our bed the next morning. I was SHOCKED. Totally didn't expect anything, but somehow Santa and his helpers found us all the way on our boat in the middle of the ocean! So that was a fun, magical start to the morning.
We met up with everyone at breakfast. I think we all felt like Claire at the thought of leaving the next day :(
But before I can truly begin with the rest of Day 7, let's rewind to the wee early morning hours of Day 7. (Maybe even all the way back to the end of Day 6 - I don't know, we were sleeping!)
There was an adult air guitar contest. Scott really wanted to do it, and finally convinced Katie to do it. Good thing he did, because they BOTH won another trophy!!! This was #2 for both of them! Way to go kids! There they are with Carnival Cruise Entertainment friend Jonathan.
Katie's only a little bit excited to have 2 of these, don't you think?
Anyway, so back to Christmas breakfast. The following picture is just to let you know how indulgent we really are on a cruise, because I don't think you're understanding what I'm trying to explain. Every morning for breakfast we get to order juice. I think we all order 1-2, but Christmas morning I'm not sure what happened, we ordered and drank more than what you see below (the rest of us still have at least one glass in front of us):
Love this pic :) What more could a girl want that a fun, handsome, wonderful, WONDERFUL husband with her on Christmas day... on a big boat... in the middle of the warm ocean... in the warm ocean sun... with unlimited food... *sigh* I've found the REAL heaven.
Yes, we like our grapefruit juice!
Throughout the day everybody spent time with the friends they'd made during the week. Scott and Claire were nowhere to be found, but here's Katie with Team Michigan, playing putt-putt. Good thing she had practice during the Amazing Cozumel Race!
Dad took his shirt off to lay out and ended up with a "fanny chest" - it's a cousin to the "bro" (a bra for men). It's all the rage these days.
There was an ice sculpture demonstration that was SO cool. Just before the ice sculpting, there was a men vs women synchronized swimming competition. Of course me/Katie/Dad/Justin entered (along with the 2 boys and 1 girl in Team Michigan, plus one other new cruise friend) - nobody was there to take pictures. Mom video taped the whole thing (PRICELESS), and she doesn't have 3 hands, so we have a great video (I'll try to get it from them) so you can see the winning routine. The boys won by a LANDSLIDE, and also meant that Justin and Dad each earned ANOTHER trophy.
Celebrating the win with some chocolate/fruit sushi. YUMMY!
Nursing the loss with cups upon cups of the strawberry bisque I mentioned earlier. They had it at the lunch dessert buffet the last day! SCORE!
The sun is lowering for the last time :.....( (that's a lot of sobbing teardrops)
Dad doing his favorite activity (say it with me, you know it by now!): NAPPING. See what I mean about the drooping arm? You can see where he just closed his eyes mid page, and the book fell down.
Because it was Christmas, there was organized Christmas Caroling in the main lobby between dinner times. SEVERAL hundred people showed up. This was the best picture I could get (sorry - crappy flash), but it was really a one-of-a-kind, wonderful experience! And the coolest part: we sang real Christian hymns too - not just wintery songs!
LOOK WHO WE SAW THERE! I know him! We were sure to thank him for the stocking and were grateful he stuck around. After such a long night, a cruise does sound like the perfect vacation. Hey, if the big guy is on a cruise, isn't that a sign that it really is the best vacation ever?
At dinner we had salmon for the (count it) fourth time! Each time seemed better than the last. SO DELICIOUS.
Now, you've heard me mention these little Carnival Legend trophies that we'd won throughout the week. By Saturday night, the count was up to 9. So we decided to bring all of our trophies and our medals (there should be 7 there - K/C forgot theirs) to make a Winner's Circle Centerpiece for our final meal.
Breakdown of the final count:
Dad won 2 trophies, one for winning the Hairy Chest Contest, the other for winning Synchronized Swimming)
Erin and Justin combined for a total of 3 (Erin's Minute to Win It, Justin's Synchronized Swimming, and combined effort to win Name That Tune in the piano bar)
Katie won 2 trophies, one for winning the women's division of the Air Guitar Competition, and one for winning a Karaoke competition
Scott won 2 trophies, one for winning the men's division of the Air Guitar Competition, and one for performing with the live band during a Karaoke event.
7 medals: 1 per person for taking 2nd at the Amazing Cozumel Race.
Again, I hope you've been listening: we're THE Coolest Family EVER. I think we just proved it.
As if that wasn't enough, as the family's walking off the boat, our friend Jonathan asked Mom and Claire how many trophies we ended up with. They said 9. He said that we were just so awesome we needed another as a tribute to our awesomeness. So M/C were awarded another trophy as they walked off the boat. We're so cool that we get trophies just for being cool. Final total = 10 trophies.
Here's a picture of our wonderful wait staff. They were such a joy and delight, we really looked forward to seeing them every night. We love you Rex and Santos!
I just thought this was so funny I had to include it :)
Mom and Dad with Nancy - THE hostess with the absolute mostest. She was a JOY, delight, and pleasure every single time. She brightened our day each morning and evening and if you are able to go on the Legend between now and May when her contract is up, PLEASE take the time to meet and get to know her just a little bit. SUCH a darling, precious, sweet young woman!
Sorry we didn't do a great job of taking pictures of food. Like I said - weird flash. Plus we forgot a lot :) But here's the Christmas dessert. Justin could tell you more about it.
Our last animal. I think it's a puppy? It was almost as much fun trying to figure out what they were as it was to come home and find them :)
Home Sweet Home. I miss it already...
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