Christmas 2005 is chock full o'memories! I had a great time with my parents. I'm pretty sure they enjoyed the 80 degree weather on Christmas day! Of course...what happened the day AFTER Christmas... is quite a tale indeed. Before we get to that, lets remember the day of:
One of my favorites memories from Christmas was our Jones Soda taste test. Jones Soda actually makes Turkey & Gravy Soda, Pumpkin Pie Soda, Wild Herb Stuffing Soda, and Brussels Sprout Soda. Dave has a fascination with "things that taste bad", and erm... let's let the photos tell the story:First up: Turkey and Gravy...
Wow, is someone fascinated...
Delectable!
Wild Herb and Stuffing...
Most intriguing!
Don't throw up, Dad. There's plenty of time for that tomorrow...
Brussels Sprout Soda...
Green as the sprout...
Mom refused to imbibe...
Pumpkin Pie Soda...
Too fascinating for words...
I had high hopes for this one!
How did they manage to make Pumpkin Pie taste like *censored* pie?
Pumpkin pie was truely the worst of the bunch with Wild Herbs and Stuffing as runner up in my opinion. Dave and Dad voted Brussels Sprouts all the way.
Now that we've visited the worst tastes of the day, how bout we take a look at the best: 
This is french bread made in my home town of Frontenac, KS. Mom and Dad brought me some!! I used to eat this bread every day of my life growing up. It smells like fresh warm bread on a sunny Sunday afternoon and tastes like German salami and mustard sandwiches in my grade school lunchbox. Thanks M and D!
Hartman was a ham... 
Dinner was turkey...
The Pumpkin pie was much better as a solid... 
There were presents galore! 
Speaking of presents... My gift to my Mom and Dad was a day cruise to the Bahamas... We were to leave the day after Christmas... and so begins:
THE GRISWALD FAMILY CHRISTMAS CRUISE!
or
It's not as though there were no signs warning us of what was to come... In hindsight... we should have known... 
Clue numero uno: The ship was to set sail from terminal 4. We arrive at terminal 4--along with several other confused cruisers-- to find the building has been condemed. One group said they would go in search of our ship and come back for us. I do not know what became of those brave souls... mostly because a very nice, smoky woman in a van came by to pick up passengers and take us to the right terminal. 4 has been closed since Wilma in October and the cruiseline finds it more efficient to send smoky lady back and forth to pick everyone up rather than alert passengers to the change in terminal....
Clue number 2: I am not making this up (i'll always tell you if I'm making something up:) ) While we were going through security we kept seeing people coming through by stretcher... I even joked to Mom about how that is what happens to people who go on this cruise. We had only had a couple hours sleep... this must be why clues number 1 and 2 slipped by.
Here we are, blissfully unaware, enjoying the sunrise over Ft. Lauderdale aboard the Discovery Sun Cruise Ship...
Clue number 3: The ship w
as supposed to set sail at 7:45AM..
. For whatever reason, it didn't. But hey, we didn't notice, we were having fun! We ate a gigantic buffet breakfast. Then there was a drin
k or two. We played Bingo! We didn't win, but we were having a blast! Woohoo! We're on a cruise!!...
...
...
Then...
...We set sail...
In the beginning... we continued somewhat smile and not discuss the elephant in the room... It must have been an elephant... I do not know what else could have rocked the boat like that. Let's just say... there was a "moderate chop" in the seas that day...
Soon, breakfast would be lost... And it wasn't just Dave's breakfast... what happened next was of what movies are made... Everybody on the ship turned green... hundreds... many of them tossing their eggs and hashbrowns all over the floors in the bathrooms, the hallways, the lounge.. It was a full blown vomitfest... It was as bad, if not worse, than pumpkin pie soda. and now for:
Clue number 4: Of course, by now, we were on to this cruiseline... They had a comedian take the stage to entertain the green crowd. His first joke? "Man, I've never heard so many strange noises before!" Then he proceeded to make barfing noises. His joke was met with complete, absolute, silence. Their comedian already had a bit about all the people who get sick on the ship!
It took us 5 hours to get to Freeport, Grand Bahama. We were happy again to be on land! Our st
omachs settled down. We hopped in a taxi-- and who was our taxi driver? None other than Mrs. Crabtree herself!
Ha! .....We made it though... And what did we find out when we got to the island? Everything was closed due to the holiday! I would not make such a thing up! Shops and restaurants? Closed!
We did find a restaurant... the food was comparable in taste to Turkey and Gravy soda. We only had a couple of hours on the island because the ship left late. Probably because of all those trips back and forth to inform passengers terminal 4 has been condemed for 2 months.
The trip back wasn't as choppy... or perhaps it was the dramamine tricking us into believing it wasn't. Dave even won the trivia contest! Guess what we won?
...
Wait for it...
We won a FREE CRUISE ON THE SAME SHIP!!
Merry Christmas Mom and Dad! It was a Christmas to remember that's for sure!
