cookie baking day Archives - The Adventures of Sugar Shack

We headed to Town Basin Marina after we splashed. It was no surprise to find that the Christmas cheer was in full swing!

We quickly put up a few lights and decorations. Nothing compared to last year. But I had to do something as I was judging the annual Christmas Boat Light extravaganza. We did not have much time to do our full decorating, but we showed a little spirit. if you recall, we won “Overall Best Boat” last year so I had a repuation to uphold.

The judges met for dinner at Local Talent, then headed to a cruiser’s boat called Rewa for drinks while we waited for sunset at 8:34pm! Yes, it is summer here and the days are long!

Bribing the judges is strongly encouraged so we were gifted with lots of snacks, treats, and cocktails along the way.

Santa is played by Dave on the Rewa, Sharon is in the beautiful red dress next to santa. The mayor of Whangarei is dressed in his royalty best and Matt was awarded Grinch of the year.

Santa asked that I be the bell ringer. This was a really heavy and very loud bell. After an hour everyone was tired of it but Santa insisted I keep ringing it – so ring I did. That is until the mayor decided it was enough (around 10:30pm) and stuffed it with a shirt to quiet it down.

Lots of boats got into the holiday spirit with music, dancing, lights, and decorations. It was a really great night!

A week before Christmas I finally got our decorations out. It was killing me not being in the holiday spirit. I feel so much better with them out.

Christmas Cookie Galor

I carried on the tradition of baking cookies for friends. I used to do this with the ladies in our family when I was young and ever since I had my own kitchen I’ve carried out the tradition. This year I went a little overboard with over 800 cookies (gingerbread, white mice, sugar cookies, peppermint bark), 3 batches of Toffee and 2 batches of caramel fudge!

I put together 12 gift boxes for cruising and local friends!

Myt friend Kara came over to help decorate the large sugar cookies which will be presented on Christmas day. It was so much fun having her help to decorate – she brought her “A” game!

Of course we had the cookie monster there to help too.

There was some rose wine helping spur our creative side.

And the final product of 60 sugar cookies decorated in a rainbow of colors and designs.

A New Zealand Summer Sunrice from our dock at Town Basin Marina.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events normally. But I moved this blog post ahead of the rest so that it coincided with the actual holiday season.

Beauty is all around us as we spend Christmas in the Gambiers! We celebrate a few days before Christmas in a small bay on the West side of Taravai called Onemea. We are all by ourselves and have an unobstructed view of the sunset. Once inside the bay you are surrounded by reefs on three sides which provide excellent snorkeling. Matt flew the drone and captured these beautiful photos.

Onemea on the West Side of Taravai

A beautiful rainbow over the hillside.

Matt gets the drone out and captures a really pretty photo of Sugar Shack with the sun and puffy cloud.

Onemea bay, Taravai

Cookie Baking Day

Our family used to do a cookie baking day where all the ladies gathered together to bake dozens and dozens of cookies. When I moved to Texas, I continued the tradition by inviting my girlfriends and their daughters over for baking and decorating. It was a great way to get out of decorating the cookies and getting sharing the cookies. I love to bake but decorating does not bring me much joy. Last year, I invited several gals from other boats and we decorated them together…but this year I was all on my own. I made the dough for two recipes (gingerbread and sugar cookies) one day and then put them in fridge. The next day I baked 288 gingerbread cookies (with red hots) and 130 sugar cookies (stars, hearts, sea horse, bells, and a mermaid).

The next day I made 75 white mice (or Mexican wedding cookies) and 75 chocolate candy cane cookies with white chocolate drizzle and peppermint topper. Then I made frosting for the sugar cookies and decorated the bells, hearts, sea horses, and mermaids. Whew!

Christmas in Gambiers is a day of Sharing

Part of the joy of baking is being able to share the cookies with others. So, Christmas in the Gambiers came on Christmas Eve. Each boat in the anchorage (6 of them) received a cookie care package and 5 different local families did too. What fun!

Christmas Eve Activities

There are only 8 boats in the entire archipelago right now which is amazing, albeit shocking! One of the boats is a family of 4 with a teacher from the UK. They invited everyone onshore to do caroling. They even had song sheets. I must say we sounded terrible! But it was great fun.

After caroling, we headed to St. Michael cathedral for evening service. We were not sure how they would handle service with the pandemic restrictions, but it went off really well. Everyone wore their masks, no hugging or kissing (which is huge for French and Polynesian people), and we all tried to sit with at least 2 people space between us. It was crowded and hot though. I can only imagine what it is like when they are literally full to capacity with people body to body.

The church was decorated so beautiful with natural plants and flowers. A beautiful nativity highlighted at the entrance and of course the beautiful stations in each of the corners.

St. Michael’s Church

The alter was decorated with live trees and fresh flowers. Everything worked in harmony to accentuate the stunning alter covered in natural pearl shells. Truly beautiful.

Christmas in Gambiers at St. Michael’s Church

After service, I went back to Stefan and Manu’s place to enjoy a tasty dinner. Stefan had been cooking since noon and man oh man did he cook for an army! I thought there would be more people but it was just he and his wife, their two young kids and Matt and I. I am not sure where he thinks we can put all this food!

Stefan literally prepared a feast with lamb, lobster, oysters, potato casserole, and many many side dishes.

As we were headed back to the boat, we heard the Taporo coming in – yeah! The supply ship has arrived.

Christmas in Gambiers – The Supply Ship

I have written about the supply ship on many blogs. If you might recall, I always say it is like Christmas. And wouldn’t you know it – they actually arrive on Christmas day this time! It is so amazing to see all the locals congregate on the dock waiting for their packages and presents. We saw new bicycles, TVs, outboards, fresh food and produce, fuel, propane and oh so much more. Everyone was happy and excited to get their holiday on!

Everyone checks in at the little “hut” where you order and pay for your goods (upper left corner photo). We had wanted to buy 25kilos of flour and 4 cases of beer, but they were out 🙁 So sad for us.

Several boats needed fuel, so we loaned out our jerry cans and gave hand – because that is just what you do.

Stefan and Manu invited us back to their house for lunch (Christmas eve left overs) – who would say “no” to more lobster? We stumbled back to the boat after being overly fed and rested for awhile before going over to “Auntie” a new cruising friend that we met. Eve on “Auntie” invited other cruisers over for Christmas happy hour which was lovely and just a perfect way to end this beautiful Christmas celebration.

Although I miss my family tremendously, Christmas in Gambiers showered us with love and happiness (both from the locals and other cruisers). Life is good and truly blessed.

Events from this blog post occurred around 12 December, 2020. Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind our adventures.