Drivel -Christmas in Hawaii

My mainland friends have often asked me what Christmas is like in Hawaii? I suspect they think I live in some wild foreign country, or perhaps Mars. I mean, come on guys, this is still the USA. Stores. Malls, albeit not too many. Christmas house lights and yard displays. Candy canes. Christmas trees. Wrapping paper. Churches galore with their Christmas services and nativity scenes. Walk into Home Depot, Sears, Macy's, Target, Pier One, Walmart, K-Mart, Ross ---yup, we got them here--- and youll know that  it's the holidays. 

Ok, we don't have snow, ice, freezing weather unless we drive to the tops of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. But there are plenty of places on the mainland that don't get that cold too. So what if we go snorkeling on Christmas morning, have lunch on the beach, and Christmas dinner luau? (I just had to get that dig in.)

Santa Claus is often depicted here wearing red shorts and an aloha shirt, arriving on a surf board. Ok, that's different. Christmas dinner is often pig cooked in the ground. But there are plenty of hams and turkeys being served up too. 

People greet one another with plentiful Merry Christmases, but there are those among us who will give a hearty Mele Kalikimaka, often with an uncontrolled hiccup or an added syllable, though many times we manage to pull it off correctly. 

As with everywhere, friends get together. 

Christmas is what you make it. Each Christmas I make a wish. While its never come true, I still make the same wish every year from the depth of my heart......

Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward All