Honolulu City Lights

Every year, the city of Honolulu opens up city hall and creates a holiday wonderland.  They sponsor a Christmas wreath contest and break out the HUGE Santa and Mrs. Clause.  We thought this was a nice cap to the evening and you just can't get more holiday like than streets filled with lights and a 30 foot Christmas tree all decked out.  We had a great time taking in all of the festivities.

These were some of our favorite Christmas wreaths entered in the competition:

Here are the highlights from the lights:

Merry Christmas from Waikiki

Taris and I spent Christmas at home and alone this year.  It was quiet, but a nice change of pace for us.  Since it was just the two of us, I opted not to cook and we headed down to Waikiki for dinner at one of the fancy little restaurants on the strip.  We ate "dinner" (at 4pm) at Wolgang Puck's Steakhouse.  It was absolutely wonderful!  We enjoyed the atmosphere, the company of the two of us, and of course all of the amazing food.  Believe it or not, I did not take one picture of us at the restaurant.  We finished in time to take a walk on the beach to watch the sun set over the ocean.  It certainly was not our typical Christmas and most definately not the weather we are used to, but we both loved not having to bust out our winter coats to head outside.

Christmas Morning...sort of

For those of you that know me, you know I hate waiting to open presents...especially at Christmas.  And I hate keeping secrets on what I am giving.  Since we didn't have to wait for Santa Clause to visit our house, I convinced Taris that we could open our presents on Christmas Eve.  We both got what we wanted and then some.  The highlight was my ipod and Taris' highly requested beats by Dr. Dre.  I bought us the X360 Kinnect.  Which was probably the funest toy ever!  Here are a few highlights from the present opening.

Christmas Card

I finally got our Christmas card in the mail on Christmas eve!  I was so busy taking care of my sisters cards and waiting on a convenient time to take a family picture with Taris that I was completely OUT of creativity for my own card.  After a chat with my sister, Alexis, we settled on this as the final product.  Taris insisted on an entire family photo (with the dogs), but we did not drive all the way out to one of the two dog beach parks on the island.  Next year...much better planning...and hopefully not an unexpected, last minute trip home to take care of our rental in Abilene.  Merry Christmas everyone!

North Pole Express

For Mason's birthday, everyone went to the North Pole Express (formerly Polar Express) in Grapevine.  I was SO glad that I got to go too!  Everyone had a great time.  It was crazy cold and actually snowed the next day!  There was so much to do: a train ride with Santa, a visit with Santa at the toy store, ornament making, and hot chocolate.  It was such a great memory maker.

Mason, Kendall, and Tucker
Doesn't Tucker remind you of the kid from "The Christmas Story"
He finally figured out that his arms could move!

 



Kendall would not go up to see him alone...and did not want to sit on his lap




Kendall decided she could try and touch Santa



Oh the many attempts at a group picture



Tucker LOVES pez



Rachel, Mason, Tucker, and Mike

 


She got a Christmas bell



A little more warmed up to Santa





The conductor



Our train car



Mason made a sleigh



Kendall and Alexis with the finished ornament



O, Christmas Tree

I love putting up the Christmas tree each year.  This year, while I loved getting it out and putting it up, I didn't feel like pulling out all of the Hallmark ornaments this year.  So, our tree is not personalized at all this year!  And although I love the simple theme of red, white, and silver, it just isn't the same when it comes to the memories that all of the personal ornaments bring to life for me.  Next year, I will fight the plastic packaging and the individual boxes...because it really is worth it.