Morris Manor Musings: 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".

Madeline and I were lucky enough to accompany Dustin to the 2011 Honolulu Marathon! We took a nice little break to Oahu and although it was wonderful, it was surely TOO short of a trip to the islands!

Honolulu looks so cool at Christmas time! All the palm trees, that line the roads, are lit up in Christmas lights and giant snowflake lights flash up and down the road. There is a giant Santa that stands on top of the Ala Moana Mall and on King Street there are a giant (Hawaiian, mind-you) Santa and Mrs. Claus giving the shaka and dipping their toes into the pond...along with loads of other lit up Christmas structures.

And every town has their own Christmas parade (one town even has an electric parade). HOWEVER, this time of year SUCKS when it comes to travelers. TOO many people! I mean, Honolulu is usually too busy for us anyways, but this time of year (along with the 23K peeps running the marathon and all their entourages) made Honolulu, serioulsy, unbearable. We stayed out of town as much as we could (also due to weather, Waikiki was rainy and very windy every day - Ko'Olina sunny and just right!), but no matter WHAT time we tried to come home, to beat traffic, we got stuck in it!!!!!! Every night at least 2 to 3 hours of waiting in traffic to get to our hotel in Waikiki. Insane! I think the only way I would come back this time of year is if we stayed out of Honolulu and away from the insane crowds and traffic!

Dustin did an awesome job on his marathon! He finished in 5hrs 13mins!

The marathon ran on the street in front of our hotel - along with one of the race police officers blowing a conch shell to help encourage the runners (thank you Mr. Officer - you woke me up at 5:15am!). I was able to go out on the lanai and watch for an hour or so while Madeline slept (the race began at 5am with fireworks!). I couldn't get over ALL the people running - Japanese news crews everywhere.

We also etched out a little time to meet Santa while in Hawaii! I was little bummed to find that the Santa they had this year was a regular looking Santa - in the years past (that I had looked up) they always had a Hawaiian looking Santa, but not this year! :( How cool would that have been!? I found Madeline a red and green Hawaiian dress to wear in her picture.

She sat on Santa's lap and looked at him, gave him a side smirk and then as soon as we moved back, she burst out into tears! haha... She's scared of my MIL's husband who is a big dude with a white beard, so I think she just associates all men to him. haha... Oh, well... She may never like Santa - but that's okay, we love her and her crying pics anyways! She did enjoy using her candy cane from Santa to eat her dole whip afterwards, so it wasn't ALL bad. haha...