Just from watching television, almost anyone would come away with the impression that Christmas Day is spent by everyone in front of a lighted tree, a pile of gifts, an assortment of relations, and a fourteen pound turkey. For most of my life that's pretty much the way it was.

Sure, when I was a teenager, if the surf was up I'd make an early run out to the beach to catch a few waves on Christmas morning, but I'd always be back in front of that Christmas turkey by lunch time.

This year, we celebrated with family on Christmas Eve, so we had the whole of Christmas Day to just relax and eat leftovers. Someone came up with the brilliant idea of taking the leftovers to the beach for a picnic. I'm pretty sure I had some part to play in that idea, but I won't take full credit.

So my other half, Susie, and I packed up a lunch of Christmas ham, rolls, potato salad, and fruit salad, and headed for Fort Desoto Park beach, in St. Petersburg. Mom had generously shared the Christmas dinner leftovers with us as usual, although the leftover chocolate pie was mysteriously not included in our Christmas “doggy bag.” Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten that second and third piece.

We found that we were not the only ones celebrating a warm and sunny December 25^th at the beach. There was a good crowd enjoying temperatures in the mid 70's. There were even people swimming in the 68 degree water. That's about 10 degrees below my required minimum, but it was tempting, and not too bad for late December.

We found a spot behind a small dune, which we used as a windbreak, and set up our chairs and umbrella. After enjoying the leftovers we took a walk along North Beach toward Shell Key. As is usual at Fort Desoto, we found some interesting things on the beach. Susie spotted a live octopus that was stranded on the sand. It was too slow-moving to keep up with the quickly receding tide. A concerned person promptly rescued it before I could snap all the pictures I wanted, but at least it was returned to the water unharmed.

We found a tiny crab of a kind I'd never seen before, and some very nice sun-ray venus clams. There were several dolphins swimming in Bunces Pass, between North Beach and Shell Key. Dolphins always attract a crowd. There were people fishing, wading, kayaking, and quite a few photographers carrying around camera lenses larger than my tripod. I'll bet they got some great photos.

We ended up staying for the sunset, as did a lot of people. It was a different way to spend Christmas day. Not all Christmases are warm enough for us to put on shorts and a t-shirt and relax on the beach. But I'm glad we didn't miss this one.