One nice thing about traveling a long distance westward is that because of the time-zone difference, you can get a good amount of sleep after staying up late to get ready for the trip, and still get up at a reasonable hour. After we took full advantage of this fact, Cheryl came to the apartment where Mark was staying to pick him up; we went back to her family's home briefly, then she drove us downtown to Honolulu and Waikiki. We did a little last-minute Christmas shopping at the Ala Moana mall; as we went into Shirokiya, a store specializing in Japanese imports, to eat lunch, we ran into Wesley and Faye, some of Cheryl's former co-workers. We didn't detain them for a photo because they had to go back to work soon (not everybody is on vacation yet!), but Cheryl will try to look them up again later in our visit. Small world!
After we finished our shopping, Cheryl drove us to Punahou, the private high school she had attended. The school (which also accepts students from kindergarten on up) has a long history, beginning with the gift of Ka Puna Hou (the New Spring Lands, "spring" referring to a source of water, not the season) by some local chiefs to a group of missionaries in 1829; the school itself was founded in 1841. It was raining intermittently, but Cheryl showed Mark around the grounds, which had some significant additions since she graduated, notably a huge science building. The atmosphere is of a small, exclusive college, and she said that the tuition cost also bears out this impression... Again, we'll return later in our visit, so we skipped taking pictures to see if we will get more sun next time.
After a delicious homemade dinner, we decorated the Christmas tree. (We had thought to start yesterday, but Cheryl and Mark were ready to turn in early because of jet-lag and having stayed up late to pack!) Here are the family ready to hang ornaments...
...and here are Cheryl and Mark (photographed by Gail) hanging some. As with Mark's family, Cheryl's family hangs a mixture of ornaments with specific stories behind them (e.g., a lobster with the words "Boston 1989" for Cheryl's undergrad college years, or a set of yarn-and-felt representations of favorite local foods like "shave ice" and sushi) and shiny colored "filler" balls.
We also added icicles to the tree, one to each branch tip (Mark never had the patience to do this back home, so it usually fell to his brothers!). Cheryl took this photo of Gail, Judy, and Mark.
And here's the finished result, with presents starting to appear underneath the tree! Mark is especially grateful for the opportunity to participate; in the last few years his Christmas vacations at David, Susan, and Marci's home have had to begin too late to let him get to Phoenix in time to help decorate the tree.
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to Photo Albumnew 21 December 2000, revised 23 December 2000