Mele Kalikimaka! (Part 1)

(well, it's a little past Christmas, but ignore that for now)

Before I get started, interesting lesson on Hawaiian language:

Anyone who visits Hawaii will notice street signs and names in general are very repetitive.  That is because the Hawaiian language only uses 7 consonants: H, K, L, M, N, P, and W.  However, all of the vowels are used, and that is important because every consonant must be followed by a vowel.  That's how you get words like humuhumunukunukuapua'a (Hawaiian state fish).  That's also how you get "Mele Kalikimaka".  It's as direct a translation as you get from the English "Merry Christmas".  (Get it? Merry - Mele?)  Here's another example: my name is Kilikina. (i = /ee/).  Matthew is Makaio (Mah-kah-ee-oh)  I've had a lot of fun on this site: http://www.e-hawaii.com/hawaiian-names

Anyway, it has been so wonderful receiving Christmas cards and it's always fun to get packages in the mail.  After a while, I knew we needed a place to put everything.  There's no place better than under a Christmas tree...

Anyone recognise the comically large bottle of wine?

CLBofW + $4 worth of ribbon = Christmas Tree!

I've mentioned before that Christmas decorations look out of place here.  After experiences most Christmases surrounded by snow (or at least sub-50 temperatures) it's pretty bizarre to see people throw lights on a palm tree.  That said, it definitely felt a bit more like Christmas after Matt and I walked along the Honolulu City Lights display this past Thursday.  Check it out:

Iolani Palace lit up Christmas style



Blurry but awesome.. Iolani on fire?





Aloha Santa





Giant tree...



...that changed colors!

So many people!



Smoke coming out of the pineapple train

 

 On Saturday, Matt and I got into the Christmas eve spirit with some deeelicious hot mochas:

Mugs: Courtesy of Nick and Allie (thanks guys!)

We had a really relaxing day, then decided to walk to the beach down the street from us and watch the sunset:

After getting to the beach, we decided to watch the sunset from Magic Island.   It's not so much an island, but a peninsula:


Magic Island, from Ala Moana



View from our bench on Magic Island



My personal favorite

 

We went back to our building and had some very yummy and very dangerous eggnog.

Before I leave you, a Christmas-themed blog post wouldn't be complete without a Christmas-themed joke:

What do you get when you cross a Christmas tree with an Macintosh?

A pineapple.

Classic.


...to be continued.