The way Charlie Buckley tells it, Santa Claus came early to the Annapolis City Dock yesterday afternoon, carrying the centerpiece of his boat's Christmas display: an 8-foot-tall Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

So what if it was really a 1983 Ford pickup trick, not a sleigh, with a driver named Alfred, not Santa? Christmas is about dreaming.

And in Annapolis, it has come to be about boats, lights and decorations such as Buckley's painted Styrofoam bust of the Grinch, perched on the bow of his 38-foot Bayliner.

The 20th Eastport Yacht Club Lights Parade sets sail at 6 o'clock tonight. The event that started when one man paraded his boat, with its single strand of lights, around the harbor in 1981 has blossomed into tradition. This year, 61 vessels will participate, ranging from a WaveRunner to a 76-foot schooner.

For two hours, the boats will travel around the City Dock and Spa Creek, south of downtown. Organizers expect about 30,000 people to crowd the nearby bridge and dock.

Some boats will be ornately decked out.

Pete Chambliss said he and his crew have invested more than $300 and 800 hours in constructing a pipe-and-chicken-wire frame for lights. Look once, and it will show a sapling Christmas tree perched next to a sleeping Snoopy. Look again, and it will depict Snoopy waving to the crowd from beside a 24- foot tree. The sailboat's flashing Christmas lights change every five to 10 seconds.

Some will have simpler designs.

"Some people do 800 man-hours, some people do one," Buckley said.

Count him in for one. Where Chambliss has won at least one award each of the 10 years he has entered, Buckley has won none in four years. He doesn't intend to win this year, either.

"The thing I win the award for - that they don't give an award for - is 'best party,'" he said.

And somewhere among the boats will be the memorable.

In the past, these have included decorated canoes. There was also the legendary "Flasher."

"It was a man," said parade chairman Tim Hause. "He opened up his trench coat, and there was a Christmas tree underneath."

At least once, the weather made the parade memorable. In 1991, winds gusted up to 48 mph, but the boats kept moving.

At City Dock yesterday afternoon, a few parade participants hung lights despite steady rain.

"This electricity and water stuff is nasty," Buckley joked after a small shock.

But he and two co-workers put in their hour - actually 54 minutes - hanging white, green, blue and red lights with partially numb fingers while floating atop 39-degree water.

"If you're going to throw an outdoor party in December," he said, "you've already declared you don't care about the weather."