Sunday, December 25, 2011

And Christmas Comes

Merry Christmas (Mele Kalikimaka) to everyone. It was a beautiful Christmas day today and it has been a wonderful week. We started the week with a Family Home Evening out at the Gun Stock Ranch for a pot luck dinner and the kids acting out a live nativity scene while the Bishop read the Christmas story and the rest of us sang Christmas Carols. Brandon is behind the mule standing by the yellow box - he is the Inn Keeper (sorry for the blurry photo but it was a bit dark). They had live animals and it was really a fun evening.

We have adjusted to the climate because Linda was chilled during the show and put her hoodie on. When she asked me what the temperature was, I looked at my phone and it was clear down to 72 degrees ... welcome to Hawaii!!!

Then on Tuesday evening, the youth came by our house caroling and they sounded wonderful. They had a couple of them playing the ukulele and using bells and it was great.

Brandon and Cory were later playing their instruments together and I was able to record this rendition of Scotland the Brave. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.


We also established a new tradition for Christmas Eve.  We went to the Hukilau Beach (after opening a Christmas present early - boogie boards!) and were able to catch a few waves. Being our first time, we did pretty good. We only face planted on the bottom (under the waves) a few times and actually caught quite a few waves that we rode in to the shore. Lots of fun, good waves, but a little windy so it was a bit chilly getting out of the water.



This is how a snow (sand) man is built in Hawaii, complete with hula skirt and lei.


Christmas Day was great. We got up and opened our presents. Brandon was excited about his bag Brenda sewed him with a violin on it and immediately rounded up his violin books to put in it. He was also excited about the new lego pickup truck, trailer, and four-wheeler (which we spent the rest of the day building).














I was very excited about the new ukulele that Linda gave me...got to get some lessons now!!!

Cory was happy...he got food - jerky and candy!!!  It doesn't get much better than that! He also got some boring clothes and a few other things.
Mom just had fun handing out presents and enjoying her boys!

 Brandon liked his truck gift his cousin Emma made for him.
It was a great day and we loved going to church and hearing the choir sing the beautiful songs of Christmas. The closing song was Silent Night but it was done a little different. They had all the Japanese speakers sing it in Japanese, followed by the Tahitians in French, the New Zelanders in Moari, the Samoans in Samoan, and then we all sang it in Hawaiian and English. It was really neat. It really brought the Spirit of Christ into the day.
After church, we were able to Skype with Chris and Malley, and then with Skyler and Kellie and watch the grandkids open the presents we had sent them. They were so cute. It was really fun.

We also had a young couple, the Tablers, come over for Christmas dinner and some games with the family. It was a great day and we really enjoyed it.

We hope you all had a great Christmas today and pary that the Spirit of the Savior and His infinite atonement will bless your homes in the coming year.

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