My home for this year's Christmas Holiday was the Quality Inn & Suites in Jekyll Island, Georgia. I stayed a couple of miles down the road at the Days Inn for my last two visits. But the Quality Inn offered a much better rate for my dates.

The best part of the trip so far is that the drama queen XK8 made it without incident, which was a relief.

I ended my first day on the island the way I always do and headed to the beach for an evening walk on the beach. The Quality Inn isn't a beachfront property. But access is, literally, across the street. I was heading that direction and couldn't help but notice the Christmas decorations in the hotel's front yard.

All of the big trees next to the building were wrapped in lights.

The large leaning Live Oak tree in the grass was decorated in a Grinch theme.

This is the Quality Inn's version of the Grinch who Stole Christmas.

I don't know what caused this oak tree to lean the way it was.

But it was a great backdrop for the decorations.

The Grinch was on hand to try and steal the lights.

The Grinch as accompanied by his dog, Max.

Watching all of this was Little Cindy Lou Who, who was no more than two.

Other residents of Whoville completed the display. This was great !

I headed across the street to the beach access at the North Loop Trail and made my way down the stairs.

The Quality Inn is actually across the street from the beach, and shares access with its neighbor, the Holiday Inn.

The beach at this point seemed much smaller than it did at the Days Inn further south.

I did what I always do, which is play with the camera settings until I find something that works.

I get to enjoy a full moon this Christmas.

Trying to zoom in on the Christmas full moon.

Being at the beach over Christmas with a full moon and mid-70s is probably about as close to ideal for me as it can get.

I set the camera down on the railing and started playing with settings and taking pics.

The results aren't all that bad given the camera's small sensor.

Like other places on the island, the beach area in this location disappears during high tide.

The water had already been hitting the wall of rocks when I arrived.

I set the camera down on whatever level space was available and hoped for the best.

I decided to do something I rarely do and take a selfie.

This camera has a self-timer which I set for 10 seconds. That gave me enough time to position myself on the rocks.

Using the steps once again, I turned the camera toward the ocean to see what would happen.

The pics aren't as bad as expected given that the camera didn't really have anything to focus on.

The full moon provided the camera with plenty of available light.

More self-timer selfie fun.

Guess at a camera setting, aim, push the button, get into place, repeat.

I took a bunch of selfies on that evening.

This one came out ok.

I hung around for a while listening to the ocean. Soon it was time to get some sleep. I've got a date with a brunch buffet in the morning.