Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

December 24–25, 2017

Sunday was Christmas Eve, and there were no basketball games. The finals were on Monday. It turned out that Sherman and Nancy had decided to go to the Episcopal cathedral on Sunday, and so had I. So we rode the bus together and got there in time to look around and take pictures. The queen was an Anglican, influenced by her friend Queen Victoria. When Hawaii became part of the US, the Anglican churches became part of the US Episcopalians.

the chapel

the window over the entrance

In a panel on the upper left is Jesus on a surfboard.

The four-manual Aeolian-Skinner is the largest organ in the state of Hawaii. With Christmas Day on Monday, that made it the Fourth Sunday of Advent. So that is observed in the morning, and the Christmas Eve celebration starts that night. They were so intent on emphasizing that fact, that there was no music at all in the Sunday morning service, no hymns, no chants, no anthems, no nothing. So I did not hear a single note out of this organ. I could have taken the bus back that night and heard the Christmas music, but didn't. Sherman and Nancy had booked their luau for that night, and I didn't get motivated to go by myself. Also, we had to get up early the next morning to get to the 7:30 am game.

After church we wandered around the area a bit and got on the bus while trying to decide what to do about lunch. We got off the bus at the Ala Moana Center, a mall with 350 shops and such and large open air areas. We wound up eating at the food court and each of us getting our food from a different place. We explored for a while, enjoying the ambiance of a big shopping mall on Christmas Eve. And then it was time for my introduction to one more Hawaiian food. (Oh, and I had forgotten to mention the malasada that I got at the city lights. It's a little pastry of Portuguese origin, and quite good. I need to add that on the city lights page.)

So we found a place that served shaved ice. It doesn't sound that great, but it is really refreshing. The ice is much finer that regular crushed ice, so it is not quite so much like a snow cone in texture. But like the snow cone, it comes with a choice of flavorings. Even the small one is big enough to put a different syrup on each side. The white side of mine had some sort of coconut concoction. At Nancy's suggestion, I got mine with an ice cream core.

After a little more window shopping, it was time to head back to the hotel for them to get ready for the luau. After the shaved ice, I was glad I wasn't going out for a big meal. I think that evening I just had a snack of something I had in the room.

Jane Campbell, a Davidson grad and a retired Navy Captain who lives in my neighborhood, had been stationed at Pearl Harbor at one time. She arranged a special Pearl Harbor tour for the basketball team, coaches, their families, etc. She invited Nancy, Sherman, and me to go along. They had the luau that they wouldn't have time to get back for, and I declined, too, though I'm sure I would have seen things that hadn't been on my tour, and I would have enjoyed the company. I think it is great that Jane arranged this, and I'm grateful to have been invited to go along.

The main reason that I didn't consider going back out and attending a late Christmas Eve service was that Davidson's game on Christmas Day was at 7:30 am. So we had to be ready to be on the first bus in the morning.

This was the losers-of-the-losers bracket, and we were playing Akron. We were heavily favored, and our team was finally clicking. The extra day of rest and the relaxation of the Pearl Harbor outing, and along with another day's adjustment to Hawaii Time all likely helped. Davidson won 91-78.

We weren't interested in watching the Princeton-Hawaii game, and the championship game wasn't until 1:00 pm, so we decided to head on out and find somewhere to eat Christmas Dinner. We wandered around a bit trying to find a way to a bus stop by way of the parking garage. We saw an attendant, and he told us to take the elevator to the top deck, and we could walk from there. By then we had decided to eat at Jiffy's, a local chain that also includes bakeries. We found the location on our iPhones, and the navigation suggested that we needed to walk farther to get to the right bus stop. At that point we chose to call Uber and split the bill. It turned out not to be that far away.

Jiffy's had a Christmas Dinner special, but we were out so early we couldn't order it yet. So we ordered pastries and coffee to hold us until time to order lunch. The waitress took our order promptly on time. I got the full version that included ham as well as turkey and dressing.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel and pack. Nancy and Sherman were flying out that night, flying direct to Dallas and changing for Charlotte. I didn't leave until the next morning, and was flying just to the Los Angeles area for a week. That part of the trip will be the next installment.

I had time to experience a little more of Waikiki before I packed. The streets and beaches were packed on Christmas Day. I had not paid extra to get an ocean view from my room. I figured I would have seen the ocean quite enough by then. But it turned out that I could see a bit of ocean from my balcony. Finally I went back to the beach and said my mental good-byes as my two-and-a-half-week stay in Hawaii came to an end.

 

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