The boy is
finally napping, so now's a good time for me to jot down what we'd like to remember of this Christmas season before my memory starts failing me. This was our first Christmas in Hawaii, and our first away from all of our family and friends. While I really missed being with many of our loved ones this year, we did make some sweet memories of our own.
Our festivities started on Thursday night, when we took a trolley from Pearl Harbor to downtown Honolulu to see the Christmas lights and decorations. It was a beautiful evening, and despite some trolley-driver craziness, we really enjoyed soaking in the festive atmosphere downtown.
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| Looking at how lovely Iolani Palace looked all decorated for Christmas. |
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| Time to get off of the trolley and look around! |
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| Yes, he got his noggin stuck between the slats... |
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| Not phased at all after being rescued by Daddy. |
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| Mele Kalikimaka! |
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| Finally being silly and having a good time. |
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| What a fun night! |
On Christmas Eve, we took our first family bike ride - the bicycles were our Christmas gifts from my wonderful parents. After some initial protesting by a super sleepy and cranky AJ (can you believe he didn't want to nap again?), we took a pretty long ride out to Target and back through the base, stopping at a memorial we hadn't checked out yet, before continuing on the long way home. It was so much fun, despite my being a little uneasy at first (I haven't been on a bike in years, and never in traffic). Once we got going, I didn't want to stop! It's safe to say there will be plenty more rides to come, I think.
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| Such a blast! |
Then, in the evening we made a little Christmas ornament that we had been saving for just that occasion. I had seen the idea on
Pinterest a few weeks ago, and we found everything we needed to make it at Ben Franklin before we left for Italy. It's been teasing me from inside one of the kitchen cabinets for weeks, and I was glad to finally be able to get a little crafty with the boy. I think it came out pretty cute, too!
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| Not sure what this stuff is that Daddy's putting on his finger... |
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| Putting his little thumbprints on the ornament. |
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| Helping Mama put the red Rudolph noses on the reindeer. |
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| With our finished product; apparently we only know how to crazy-smile. |
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| Getting our ornament hung up on the tree. He immediately noticed that his little reindeer were like Daddy's Rudolph ornament next to it! |
We began Christmas morning with a few verses from the book of Luke before showing AJ that there was a little something under the tree. He got right to unwrapping, pulling the paper off and showing Daddy what he'd discovered inside. No smiles, unfortunately, but he was surprised by each discovery and excited to play with his new toys.
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| Reading a couple of verses before AJ decided that reading was not how he wanted to begin our day. |
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| Of course it's hard to tell, but he had a big ol' grin. Probably the only one of the morning. |
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| And then he promptly picked up the box and walked away. |
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| Lots of concentration going on here, boys. |
We were lucky to be able to Skype with Mimi and Papa this morning, so we saved AJ's stocking until they could watch him open it.
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| "Mimi, LOOK! A horse!" |
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| He kept showing Mimi and Papa his new animals over and over again. |
We even got to Skype with James's dad later that evening. AJ was so happy to see his grandpa and talk trains with him!
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| At last, a grin! |
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| Saying "choo choo" just like Grandpa taught him. |
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
