A Final Christmas Memory

This Santa is left from my childhood.  I can actually remember him

sitting on top of our old b/w television set when I was very, very young.

I'm not sure how I came to acquire him, I only remember it was many, many years ago.

He's missing the green Christmas tree that he held in his hand, and the top of his hat and the

plastic has gotten brittle over the years.

He's still one of my most cherished Christmas decorations.

Christmas Day 2010

From early morning present opening, making sure the bell could still be heard, a cat that Poppa seems to think is real, countless Legos,

a new bike, music, Miss Emerson hanging out,

an unexpected change of place for dinner (MH),

Sprinkles cupcakes for dessert (thank you for gluten free red-velvet),

more present opening, signs that I carried from Hawaii,

and ending with dads putting together more toys...

Christmas Day 2010 was full of memories.

An Open House and a Surprise!

Every time we come to the mainland, everyone says to us..."please come by and see us", it just seems like

we never have the time.  So we decided this year to host a little open house. 

I sent out e-vites (lame I know) before I left home and just stressed very

casual!

Hubby brought the last of my Spode Christmas dishes with him this time.  We just don't have any room to put

them out at home and we're here for Christmas anyway.

The weather was horrible...the beginning of the big storm.  But we did get to see some people that

we haven't seen since we moved and some friends that we do see in Waikiki, but never here. 

There was one HUGE surprise...

 this guy!  I'd been with him since he was in 1st grade-5th grade.  He's now a graduating senior at SCHS!  I'm so very

proud of him.  Not only has he grown much taller, but he's grown into a great young man.

So next year, we'll have to do the same thing.  I promise

I'll send out the e-vites earlier with the correct e-mail addresses.

It was really so very nice to have a chance to see everyone who

braved the rain to come out!

2 days before Christmas...

Since Traci and the kids had to be out of their house for a bit this morning, we decided it might

be a good time to go and pay a visit to Santa.  As you can tell Santa was very intently

listening to their Christmas wish list.

 We decided to take a drive through San Juan, since the day before it was still raining like crazy.  This picture is where

the creek (Trabuco) started to cave in and they had to evacuate about 400 houses.  I didn't take any pictures from the day

before, when San Juan Creek was so high and full of water.  It really was amazing.

 Down at Doheny State Beach, it was covered with silt, trees and who knows what else.  Both of the San Juan creeks empty out here, so this beach was littered with the run-off. GROSS!

 Hubby and I drove to San Diego and went to see the lights at the Temple. 

Beautiful! 

 At such a busy time of year, it was a nice way to end the day.



Peter Pan

A couple of days ago we took the two older grands to see Peter Pan at the Orange County Performing

Arts Center.  I'd heard so many great things about it and thought this would be something fun

for the holidays. 

It was great!  A wonderful concept that really does make you feel like you're flying over

London or under the sea.

If you live in or around the OC...please try and find the time to see this great show.  You won't be disappointed.

Polar Express and Hot Coco

We had all the grands the other night.  Another tradition that we've started since we have the MH

is to watch the movie Polar Express and drink hot chocolate (just HAVE to drink coco while watching it and sing along at THAT part).  So after dinner and showers we get into our pj's and watch this favorite movie.

I love this book and can still remember when I worked up at Viejo School in MV and one of the grandfathers came and read from the book.  Priceless.

I Love...

Trader Joes!

Oh, the wonders of special Holiday sweets and cookies!

The Trader Joe's people say that they'll never come to Hawaii...not good business.  If they did come to Hawaii, then what

would all of us bring back for omiyage?

A major...

Christmas light display.  This house is over in San Juan Capistrano, actually our old

neighborhood.  We'd seen it a few nights earlier and decided to take a drive over

with the grands.  As soon as we pulled up Jack said "this is MAJOR!"  Grey soon followed.

It was neat because they got to get out of the car and actually walk around and through

all of the displays.

 ( sort of a scarey under-lit photo aka...Haunted Mansion)

There was another house we'd found, but all of the lights were turned off.

It was more "over the top" and a REAL MAJOR than these.

Tree decorating

A few years ago (after we got the MH) we got a fake tree.  Hubby and Lauren had gone to get it

and when I came over a few days later, I brought a lot of "unbreakable" Hawaiian ornaments from home.

It's now become a new tradition that the grands decorate the tree for us.

I've bought some of those shatterproof balls and a few other things.

It's nice to sit back and let them do the whole thing.  Poppa just has to put a few high ones up

and the star.  This year Lauren actually got the wooden garland around it.

 It's hard to see in this picture, but Terry has just put up his favorite ornament.  It's an ugly candle

that we bought many, many years ago in Mexico.  He LOVES it!  Lauren even tried

taking it down...but he puts it back up.

These three are the best tree decorators around!  Next year Miss Emme will be added to the mix.

I love this new tradition.

(you can really see how much Greyson and Lauren look alike!)

Light Show...

I'd been hearing about the Geminid meteor shower that was going to

peak tonight. 

I stepped outside onto the front porch and saw two right away.  The moon had already passed

overhead, so it was pretty dark.

I tried taking my own picture, but they were just too fast.

We see a lot of falling stars out here because it's pretty dark (except next door),

but there were definitely more tonight.  Pretty cool.

Not Just One...

On the way home, I passed a couple of houses that had those "blow-up"

Christmas decorations and took them to the extreme.  Not just one in the yards,

but MANY!

Gotta Love It!

December Sunset

Can never have too many of these, especially when the rest of the

country is freezing cold!

Haleiwa Christmas Parade 2010 edition

Last night was the Haleiwa Christmas Parade.  After the wild storm that we had

the night before, everyone was hoping that the parade would still go on.

Here in Hawaii I would say that EVERY town has a Christmas Parade.

Every one of those parades is probably unique to that city...I know that ours is.

High School bands, Miss Hawaii (who is from the North Shore), canoe clubs,

soccer teams, football teams, Gecko pumping truck, stand-up paddlers,

local business, pre-schools, moms pushing strollers, old cars, decorated

golf carts and even the Fire Truck is decorated!

The parade always ends with Santa dressed in an Aloha Shirt

yelling "Mele Kalikimaka" as he goes by.

We LOVE this parade!