Mele Kalikimaka 2010

Another wonderful Christmas has come and gone! This time of year is always crazy but so much fun! Some of my favorite things of the season are Christmas music and Christmas cards. I'm thinking about leaving my cards up all year. :) It was another successful year....and just like last year the kids said "this was the best Christmas ever!"

On Christmas Eve we had a family dinner and a night together. We started by reading the story of Jesus' birth out of the scriptures. Then we read (or had read to us by Grandma and Grandpa Jensen via recorded book) "Twas the Night Before Christmas." The kids then opened up their Christmas PJ's and gifts from their cousins....which was the highlight of the night, of course. We finished up the night by watching "The Christmas Story." It was a perfect night and the kids were very eager to go to bed. Last year they were all so excited they didn't get very much sleep....so this year they were researching online different ways to help them sleep better. They came up with taking a warm bath, drinking warm milk, going to bed early, etc. Luckily, they were able to fall asleep and they ended up sleeping until about 5:30.

The gifts were a hit! Our kids are still at the ages where they are pretty happy with everything they get. I love Christmas day because the kids are busy and happy all day long! Later that afternoon, we met a few families at Bellows beach. We played some sand volleyball and touch football and cooked up some delicious food. (Steak, chicken, salmon, dutch oven potatoes, salads, deserts, etc.) The food was so good, I'm thinking we might need to make it a monthly tradition!

Happy Holidays!

Havyn decorating cookies for Santa

Taking our turn to read the birth of the Savior

Listening to "Twas the Night Before Christmas" read by Grandma and Grandpa Jensen

One of her favorite gifts from cousin Ryan

It was very cute watching her hold her eyelids down

Cole with his Christmas eve stash!

Girly girl!

Christmas eve pajamas

The scene after Santa arrived

Boots for the cold Hawaiian winter

Just light outside and I'm sure they were waking the neighbors...

Madi and Cole playing with a hovering thing :)

Austin, Cambrie, Elise, Lucy and Madison - Bellows

Preparing the food....we got rained on a little bit

But the rain didn't stop us....kids dishing up the good grub!

YUMMY!

Honolulu City Lights

Each Christmas Honolulu has a celebration called the Honolulu City Lights. They also have a parade earlier in the month, which we missed again. :) We have never been to the celebration and figured we better get there our last year. We started the evening off with dinner at Bucca di Beppo with the Powells. It was very good....the kids loved it also! After dinner we decided we would walk off some of the food we had just eaten so we walked about a mile to the Honolulu Hale. There were many displays, lights, a few rides and Hawaiian santa was there. It was a good night!

Yummy food! (tried to get everyone from where I was sitting....didn't work)

Walking to Honolulu Hale

Mele Kalikimaka

Cool lights

Havyn, Cambrie and Hawaiian Santa

Run, Steve, Run

Steve has been wanting to run in a marathon for a long time now! Each time he starts training, he either gets injured or we move, but he was finally able to check the marathon off of his "list of things to do." Last week, Steve ran in the Honolulu Marathon. He did great and said it was a great experience, but he said that he isn't sure he wants to do another one. The rest of the family waited at the finish line with our friends the Powells (Jamey was also running). It was fun watching and cheering on all the runners. There were many who were dressed up. There was a girl who ran the whole 26 miles in a wedding dress, many superheros, Darth Vader, Santa and Mrs. Clause, and many more. Congratulations and good job Steve!

In the early morning hours....still dark out.

One of our favorite pics....this old Asian woman taking it to Steve

Steve on the finish mat
You can see Steve come across the finish on the left at about 8 seconds into the video

Post marathon pics
Steve and Jamey after the marathon