Mele Kalikimaka

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
That's the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way
To say "Merry Christmas to you."

Noel and I and the two young ones went out to eat at our favorite local Italian place on Christmas Eve, then headed downtown to view the Honolulu City Lights display. By the time we got there, the kids were crashed in the back of the car, so Noel stayed behind while I went around with my camera and tripod. The results are a bit hurried, but fun. Enjoy!

Santa (with his boots off, toes cooling in the water, giving a shaka) and Mrs. Claus are annual traditions in the lights display, along with the Mele Kalikimaka blocks. I think the blocks get more “Kodak time” than Santa and Mrs. Claus - families lined up in steady streams in front of the blocks to take group pictures. I was really surprised as I headed back to the car to find no one in front of them, so I snapped this in a rush.

This is probably one of my local faves and I loved seeing it represented as garland on the downtown tree. School children make paper leis for visitors, with cut-out construction paper flowers, separated by an inch or two of a plastic straw. I’ve seen many folks on the TV news wearing these. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve seen Jack Johnson alone donning one! Coincidently, out of the shots this evening, this is one of my favorites, too.