merry christmas x 3

This is it.
The Christmas Post.
All three celebrations into one long post.

I sense a pattern developing here with the 3 part celebrations...

Anyway...to start off...let me just say,
Merry Christmas!!

On Christmas Eve, my parents flew in from Seattle to spend Christmas and New Year's with us here in Hawaii.
We were sad that my brother and his family were unable to fly out, but were also thrilled that he seems to be enjoying his new job out there!
Maybe next year, we can have a reunion with the ENTIRE Sakuma family.

As per our annual tradition ( it seems...), my Mom made pajamas for ALL the grand kids. Well, minus the three babies and Jonas (because Jonas got a pillowcase instead of PJ's. Picture to follow)...but still, that's 18 sets of pajamas.

The three babies got outfits instead.

Here's Kaden opening his VERY FIRST Christmas gift of the year!
Or, eating it, I should say...

Yes, very fitting this shirt...

And here's Jonas's pillowcase.
Snoopy and rainbows. Awesome!

Kela and Hugo showing off their new PJ's!

And with SO many kids, my Mom had to find some way to keep track...
Not pictured are the names my Mom wrote with gel pen on each pajama.
Also not pictured are the numerous misspellings of said names.
Hahaha...with 21 grand kids, most of which are pretty unusual names...it's really no big wonder that correct spelling isn't forefront on my parents list of priorities.

I forgot to mention, Christmas Eve celebration was at my house.
At my tiny, little house.
Dinner was pot luck...and NOT a quiet affair.
But I don't think we would have it any other way.

I'm pretty sure our neighbors would disagree...and by way of an apology, we delivered treats to them the following day. :)

Here's the kiddos in their brand new pajamas.
Not pictured is Jolee...who had a MELT DOWN due to tiredness and an unwillingness to don her pajama with the rest of the kids.

To round out the evening of the Eve...we had a bit of caroling by the kids...

Followed by our white elephant gift exchange.

And with so much going on...the kids didn't even get to bed until well after 10 PM.
Which left Santa with very little time to get all the presents ready for "delivery!"

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And then...onto CHRISTMAS DAY!

Poor kids had to wait until 9AM for mommy to wake up to open their presents...but hey, Santa's helper had a late night!

Wrapping presents, that is!

Here's Kaden with his first present of the morning.
Enjoyed playing with the wrapper....didn't quite have enough patience to get through the wrapper to the actual toy inside.

Here's his second present.
Which moves and lights up and makes sounds.
I think he was pretty weary of it...

Jolee's gift from Santa.
Which she LOVED!
And wore pretty much the whole morning.

Anna and Kela got marshmallow guns from Daddy.
Personally, I think Mitch got it for HIM.

The casualties...

Merry Christmas morning!

The remainder of the morning was spent playing bumper cars with their RC cars.
Yet another toy Mitch picked out.

I consider myself forewarned as to the type of presents Mitch will undoubtedly be getting Kaden when he gets older...

Christmas being Sunday...we headed out to Church in the afternoon per our usual time.
This time with Ojichan and Obachan!

Sakumas taking over Pearlridge Ward!

Our family

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And finally...Christmas Evening, we spent it at my sister Elika's house in Hau'ula.

The Sakumas...minus Makoto.

Elika has finished her downstairs and so with the new open plan, there was plenty of space for the kids to run around and play...and ride some toys.

Atau...taking a nap amidst the chaos.

The dinner spread.
Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, green beans and a green salad.
It was like Thanksgiving dinner all over again!

And it was delish!

After dinner, we busted out the Secret Santa gifts.
Well, it wasn't really a secret...more like a gift exchange with everyone.

Jolee was quite happy with her frilly skirt and bathing suit.
Anything with tulle or frilly lace is a winner with this girl.

Anna's gift came in this iPhone box.
Her response prior to opening it?

"I GOT AN IPOD!!"

hahaha...no...it was just the box.

Elika had two of these ride-on scooters.
They were a huge hit with the kids.

...and some of the adults, too.

I've mentioned we didn't put up a Christmas Tree this year.
So, Kaden seemed fascinated with Elika's tree.
Or, more specifically, the ornaments.

WHEW!
Two days and three separate celebrations and we were all beat!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas with their loved ones as well!

As usual, I took tons more pictures that can be seen HERE.

9 years and counting...

In 2 weeks, Mitch and I will celebrate our 9 year anniversary!
I wonder why that makes me feel so old all of a sudden...
Anyway, with the Holidays coming up...and with Mitch's busy work schedule...we decided to go out and celebrate it early.
Before all the Holiday madness hits.

Mitch asked me where we should go and I immediately said Morimoto's!
If any of you know me...you know I'm a Food Network addict.
That's pretty much ALL I watch on TV these days.
And when Iron Chef Morimoto oped up a restaurant in Waikiki last year, I KNEW that I HAD to check it out sooner or later.
What better occasion to splurge on ridiculously expensive food than an anniversary, right?

We initially dined al fresco.
The weather was clear and nice (for the first hour or so...), and we had a nice view of the ocean.
Our first appetizer was the fresh tofu.
It came in this hot stone pot as a liquid. The server then poured a special sauce inside and we had to wait about 10 minutes with the lid on for the tofu to set...and then voila!

Fresh tofu! It came with 2 different sauces and some garnish.
Super yummy!

Second appetizer was the Tuna Pizza.

Plenty of thinly sliced Ahi with sardine aioli and tomatoes on crispy thin tortilla.
Oh my goodness, was the best thing ever!

We also ordered a couple roll sushis...but I didn't take pictures because it's just rolled sushi.
Yummy! But just sushi.

You'll recall I mentioned that we sat al fresco initially...well, after the appetizers the weather started to turn and it started to rain.
We had to move indoors where it was not as quiet and a bit more crowded.

The guy at the neighboring table was literally the most annoying person alive.
Kept bragging about all the fine dining restaurants he's eaten at and bragging about his extensive knowledge of exotic cuisine to his dinner partner.
I felt sorry for her.
And for us who also had to bear it as well.

Anyway, onto our fabulous dinner.
Mitch had the Wagyu Beef Loco Moco.
I wasn't really thinking (probably distracted by the droning lolo sitting next to us) so forgot to take a picture of Mitch's dinner.
It was very delicious, though.

But, here's my entree.
It was lightly seared Yellowtail Hamachi in a hot stone pot with veggies, egg, and dashi sauce.
Kinda like a play on Bi Bim Bap.
Also very yummy as breakfast the next day since I couldn't finish it after eating all the yummy appetizers!

And our finale.
We got the Chocolate Peanut Bombe for dessert.
Peanut butter ice cream, chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse and a chocolate tuile.

I would probably give this restaurant 4 stars!
The food was great, company even better...and a slight deduction for the close proximity of an annoying neighbor.

Happy Anniversary to us!

christmas partaaay!

This past week was our ward's (Pearlridge Ward) annual Christmas Party.
It was a simple affair of yummy food, a cute Christmas Play put on by a few of our primary kids, and of course, a visit from Santa himself.

Here's the girls with their goodie bags.
This is at the end of the night.
Let me forewarn you...mere minutes prior to taking this photo, the number of smiles diminished by two. Scroll down to see.

At the beginning of the party.
Because the line to get food was forever long, Mitch thought it a great idea to start Jolee off on dessert first!
Brilliant!
Hence, the chocolate cake goatee.
And in case you were wondering..NO, nary a piece of salad or rice passed those chocolate-y lips.

Kela, however, DID eat all her salad and chicken...and was rewarded with a piece of chocolate cake also.
And no, that's not chocolate cake covering her two front teeth.

She HAS NO two front teeth.

After dinner was the Christmas play.
Which I got NO pictures of. Sorry...
But as consolation, I DID get a pic of Kaden with cousins Riho and Rumi!

AND...to get back to the whole "diminishing smile" debacle (and yes...it WAS a debacle!), here's the first one.
Anna, who despite being 5 years-old, was quite intimidated by Santa and refused to sit on his lap.
I mean, what's so scary about some strange fat man in a large red suit with a white beard that covers half his face and asks kids to sit on their laps?!
RIGHT?!

Anyhoo-we somehow convinced her to be brave and Ezra (sweet cousin that he is) offered to hold Anna's hand while walking those dreaded 6 steps up to the stage to chat with Jolly ol' St. Nick.

And wouldn't you know it, the MINUTE she walks up there, she was totally fine and happy.
Go figure.

This one, however, was unmovable in her wariness of Mr. Claus.
This picture was taken while I was "strongly encouraging" her to walk up the steps.
Yea, she wasn't havin' it.

Kela, however, was fine from the start.

I mean...one would HOPE so when speaking about a 7 1/2 year old!

Well anyway, here's just a handful of the cousins at the party. The rest of the cousins were scattered around the building and therefore, couldn't be bothered.
It was another fun activity...and perfect for getting us into the Christmas Spirit!

This picture was actually taken the previous week...but thought it was just so beautiful that I wanted to share.
It may not snow and get cold enough to conjure up the "image" of Christmas...but seeing sunsets like this helps to remind us of the true meaning behind the season...and to reflect on all the blessings we receive from our Savior, Jesus Christ.

To check out all the pictures I took at the party, click here!