I think the first thing was that when I talked to my brother Kaihe on the phone, he said "bye! Merry Christmas!" I was like woah! Ok! Ok! :D
Also, I watched a great movie that has now become one of my favorites. It's called Joyeux Noel. It's about Christmas time in 1914 on the WWI battlefield. I highly recommend watching it! Christmas time or not, it's a great movie.
And for the most intersting thing...3 Japanese kids stayed with us for 10 days to enjoy Christmas with us. They're names are Ryo, Go, and Hiroko. Ohh my gosh they were sooo funny! It was so fun to have them here! They barely spoke any english but we still found ways to communicate. We taught them english words and they taught us Japanese words. A lot of inventive sign language was used too. I was really excited to hang out with them. I guess I just really wanted to have a big impact on them and I wanted them to have a good experience.
My nephews and nieces really liked them too. They all had a lot of fun together. My two oldest nephews wrote a long list of Japanese words so they could try to speak to them. But, as crazy as they are, they would sometimes ramble off thinking that Ryo, Go, and Hiro could understand. That wouldn't work out so well. Hiro (11) is funny - he would say "ah, yes" and repeat whatever you said. He did not know english. Ryo and Go (13) are the oldest ones and they knew a little more.
They toured around the island with the group they came with, but most of the time they stayed with us and we took them to different places. They really liked "shaving ice" and the fireknife dancing and they also really liked playing cards. They went Christmas caroling with us - the only song they knew in English was We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We sang that a lot in the past few days. :)
Christmas Eve was kinda weird because Mom and Dad didn't do any shopping so they had to go on Christmas Eve.
So at home it was only Me, my little sister and brother with the 3 Japanese kids. I made Char Siu chicken and we had our little meal around the table. It was nice. Then finally everyone came home and we had a party and played games.So I realized I'm still a little kid and I still get excited Christmas morning. I was the first to wake up (at 8:30) and I danced around the house while waking everyone up. I was just anxious to have Christmas with the Japanese boys, and also to see what my mom and dad thought of the gifts I got them..
I'm just grateful because I realized that Christmas is about sharing and loving. But the love is not measured by the price tag of gifts. It is the giving of gifts that is most enjoyable as you see the happiness that you have shared. This Christmas, my family was able to share our Aloha with three youngs boys from Japan who all really grew to love us too.
As the Christmas season comes to an end, I keep reminding myself that these feelings of love and gratitude do not end. I can continue to share whatever I have to make others happy and to fulful their needs.
So Christmas was interesting and different than usual, but that's what makes it all memorable. Aloha to all, and to all a great year!
