Although it was Christmas Eve and we had decided to enjoy a day on board instead of heading to Bondi Beach, we, nonetheless, had a rather busy day.

Roy tackled a few more boat projects, all of which involved plumbing for some reason, including the replacement of the toilet macerator pump in the starboard forward head (aka bathroom), repairing the leak in the port hotwater heater and removing a blockage from the starboard aft shower drain pump.

Elaine spent most of the day actually getting ready for Christmas, which definitely seems to have sneaked up on us. Wrapping Christmas presents and getting them under the tree was the first order of the day, followed by getting some preparations done for our Christmas dinner tomorrow and replying to various Christmas emails and notes sent via Facebook Messenger, Whats App, etc from friends around the world. By then an afternoon nap was in order.

Feeling refreshed and full of energy, she then decided to sort out the starboard forward cabin so that it no longer resembled a storage area and actually managed to make up the bed for the first time in a year. A chat to Keenan in Atlanta after facetimimg Brooke and the family in Flagstaff was the icing on the cake, but seeing Carter walk for the first time was the cherry.

Having Brooke scan the room so that Elaine could see all the grandchildren as well as say hello to Brooke's parents, then learning from Brooke that the twins hadn't started to walk yet, Elaine prompted Carter to show his Nana and Papa (Brooke's parents) as well as Grandma that he could walk. After a moment of shock, cheers erupted as we all witnessed Carter simply walking towards Brooke who was holding the phone / camera and essentially walking towards Elaine who was prompting him. A fantastic moment that none of us could believe had just happened. With Elaine shouting to Roy on Paw Paw that Carter had just walked, seeing Carter's little face register what he'd just done and everyone else in the household in Flagstaff shouting with joy, we couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present! A wonderful moment for all of us as a family, albeit that we were "together" electronically.