St. John’s was a no brainer. As soon as my nephew Bill suggested that we travel there for a winter break, I was all in. Total commitment. It fit the criteria of our revamped Christmas concept: Memories for gifts. No commercial gifts (or at least, fewer presents, thank you Catherine), but rather we choose to do things as a family that we will remember for years. St. John Island, you work. Or, now that we are back, you worked.
We stepped off the ferry from St. Thomas on Saturday, January 14, picked up a rental car and drove the 12 miles across the island to The Round House, a marvelous monument to the dreams and dedication of the Borden family. The Round House was our home away from home for our week on the island. It’s a tad difficult to explain. It is, as might be expected, round. It has no
walls, other than panels of screens that keep out the bugs but let in the lovely breezes wafting up from the Carribean surrounding St. John. The Round House is a screen house set upon a gigantic jug of water – rains collected from the rooftop that are funneled into a cistern of massive volume beneath the living area. The Round House is eloquently island rustic. We loved it, and we are grateful that Chris Ferry and her family make it available.
The Round House is at the far East End of the island, tucked alongside south Haulover Bay and looking across the greater Hurricane Bay to 
the west. Across those blazon blue waters, Cathy’s brother’s family, the Mike Prouty’s, took residence in a villa on the east-facing banks of the bay. From these quarters, we bummed beaches and snorkeled beneath the calm surfaces on the southern, lee side of the island (while 6-8 foot swells pounded and 25 mph winds lashed the northern shores). We played hard, read and rested easy on days between the adventures, and cherished our family time together. We generated a padded portfolio of mental pictures that will be our Christmas memories from this season past.
We share a synopsis of these memories here.
