All of the beaches on Oahu are public beaches … and there are plenty of beaches all around the island. One thing we don’t see much of, however, are boats out on the ocean. Our drive south along the main highway (The Kamehameha Highway, the only highway on the north and east side of the island) is a two-lane road with 35 mph speed limits with occasional 45 mph limits. It’s a windy road that follows the coastline. We drive it at least once a week down towards Kaneohe and so far, never tire of the drive. The coastline is very picturesque and we’ll often stop at one or more of the beaches for a few minutes.

The other day in the late afternoon coming back from the farmer’s market at the Windward Mall, we stopped at the Heeia State Park and the boat dock. Across the way I noticed a little inlet with a small sailboat anchored in the inlet. It was definitely worth a picture! I still don’t know why we seldom see boats out in the water, though.

It’s Christmas Eve and we’re finished at the Visitors’ Center for the time being today. Our shift was from 9am until 2:30 pm. While we didn’t have a huge number of visitors, we had several families stop in to visit with us for a while. Most of them were going to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the afternoon. One very large group were here for their parent’s / grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary. They all seemed to be having a great time. We very seldom have people coming in who aren’t having a good time … tired, maybe, but almost always happy. That being said, a smaller family group this morning (7-8 people) were at the Center and watched the two new Christmas videos (http://christmas.mormon.org). When they came out of the theater, none of them were smiling. That wouldn’t do. So, I asked them, “You all look like you’re on vacation, but don’t seem to be vacationing!!??” One of the kids replied that they were on vacation and were all Very Tired! They were close to the end of their vacation and the mother said, “I’m definitely going to need a vacation when we get home from this vacation!” By the time they left, however, they were all smiling again. The Visitors’ Center kind of does that for people.

Tonight the Center will close at 7:10pm (50 minutes early) and we’ll have a Christmas get-together with all the elders and sisters in this zone at 7:30pm. The two sister missionaries planning the event have been very busy this morning getting things ready, so it should be a lot of fun. Tomorrow the Center is closed, but we’ll be there much of the day so the sister missionaries can use our iPads to Skype their families back home. They’re allowed about 45 minutes to do that and they all look forward to seeing home and family. Tomorrow afternoon all of the Visitors’ Center missionaries will get together for a nice Christmas dinner followed by a white-elephant gift exchange and we’ll watch a movie in the theater at the Center. We have a special treat … our kids have set up to get on a video call with us tomorrow afternoon as well. We’re really looking forward to that!

So, this is going to be the simplest Christmas we’ve had in a very long time! Well, thinking back, last year was quite simple as were were in Ft. Meyers trying to find a spot on the beach…. This one is simple in a different kind of a way. It’s a very pleasant day and will be a nice day tomorrow. And no snow….

My favorite brother picked up Mother in Soda Springs yesterday so she can spend Christmas with them in Green River, Wyoming. It’s also my favorite brother’s wife’s birthday today. So my brother Perry fired up his Periscope app and put out a short video of the birthday cake and everyone singing Happy Birthday. It was fun to see. Happy Birthday, Chris! Merry Christmas everyone!

Ta ta for now!