Merry Christmas 2014

 The Saturday before Christmas, we visited the city lights at Honolulu Hale. We knew we were going to see the shaka Santa and the big Christmas tree. We didn't know we were going to stumble upon a major carnival, complete with rides, crowds, and tons of things for sale. I was grateful that I didn't spend all of my cash at the farmer's market earlier that day. X got to ride the swings, merry go round, and helicopters a few times, calling "hi mom! hi dad!" as he went around and around. Other highlights for him were the fountain where shaka Santa was and the fire truck Christmas tree. The entire city hall was filled with trees, one made by every municipal department. It was incredibly crowded. I think next year we will go on a weeknight!

On Christmas Eve, we went to see the local lights show on Namoku drive. No pictures, we forgot. The yards were all done up with light displays, and we drove through slowly while X shouted "Merry Chmistmas!" at passers-by. We watched the Polar Express yet again before bed, and X went right to sleep, leaving us ample time to set up for the next day.

Santa brought X a bicycle, a cement mixer, some DVD's, and a book. X received plenty of additional toys from his family. He savored unwrapping every present and playing with each toy, so they weren't all opened until early afternoon. We kept prodding him to open his cement mixer, and eventually had to tell him that he couldn't have his bike--parked behind the cement mixer--until he opened it.

Between playing with his toys, he has been watching the Polar Express nonstop. He drives his trains around his table, narrating parts of the story. He even pulled the microphone off of his piano so that he could sing the hot chocolate song. Christmas night, he fell asleep while I was reading him the book.

Honolulu Hale

Hi mom!

X rides the swings

X rides the helicopters

Carolers?

Shaka Santa and Mrs. Claus in a mumu

in front of the fire truck tree

another shot of the fire truck tree

Christmas morning

It's a cem mixker!

eating a play cookie

setting up his Thomas and friends track

trying out the bike.

Using construction tools to (sort of) eat Christmas dinner.

The meaning of Christmas

Edit: Wow, David Wong said this so much better than I did. Please take a look at his article here.

I am not one of those people who thrives on working seven days a week. That's why I nearly lost my mind after working ten days in a row--sorry to those who have to do that on a regular basis.

I'm trying to collect my wits and figure out what to do with my entire day off without Xander (hint: shopping and chores).  Since I can't seem to get up from the breakfast table, I'm going to write a bit about the holidays.

Full disclosure: Christmas is my favorite holiday. I know that is frightfully uncool for people of my generation. It's so commercial and wasteful, the last thing we need is more things, it's overdone and starts in October, blah de blah.  Here's the thing: we Americans have very few traditions. We're a young country, and thanks to our diversity, have a very fluid identity. Traditions ground us in history, bring us together, and give us a reason to celebrate during, let's face it, the worst time of the year. Even here (hey, it rains and the water is too chilly for swimming!) Young folks like myself have tried to come up with new, guilt free holidays to fill the void like "friendsgiving" and "day of service," but new holidays are, by definition, not tradition. Sing me one friendsgiving song.

One more thing and I'm off my soapbox. Christmas can be a secular holiday and all Americans can celebrate it.  Feel free to click away now. Christianity is the most popular religion in South Korea, and Christmas isn't really a big thing there.  The things many of us associate with Christmas--the tree, Santa, presents, stockings, lights--are totally secular. I really love the Christmas story and am moved when I go to midnight mass, but when we start screaming at each other about "the reason for the season" (Saturnalia?) and "the war on Christmas," that pisses me off. Christmas is not about war or smushing your religious beliefs into someone's face (little known fact: puritans, the original American religious fundamentalists, did not celebrate Christmas). It's about being nice to each other, giving, and shared experience.

On a lighter note, we had a discussion in my household about whether Santa wraps presents. Bobby was all for not wrapping the presents and, even worse, not even taking the bicycle out of the box. I told him that Santa wants to watch X unwrap his presents, and that bicycles are to be assembled and left next to the tree. Duh. Christmas morning is for me, too.

This is what happens when you tell him to smile.

He doesn't love the "snow"