Edible Christmas gift

    Our Christmas dinner guests brought us a few treats. One super fun one was this homemade trail mix, complete with the "eggs and bacon" on the top - the bacon is really pretzel sticks, with melted white chocolate and yellow m & ms placed to look like fried eggs:

This was particularly tasty, maybe because I love pecans. Thanks, Theresa!

How do YOU celebrate Christmas Eve?

  December, and Christmas, just isn't the same in Hawaii as it is in the midwest. Christmas Eve, we decided to go hike Diamond Head. This is a state monument. It lies just past Waikiki, along Honolulu. It is a 760-foot crater. In Hawaiian, it's called Leahi, which means "brow of the tuna". In the 19th century, British sailors named the crater Diamond Head. They thought they had discovered diamonds, but what they discovered were really shiny calcite crystals. Instead of diamonds, these crystals were worthless.

  

   This crater is really old. It has been used as a strategic military lookout, and now is a popular hiking destination. If you ever get to Oahu, this is where you can see a great view of the South Shore.

The hike is fairly easy, though it does involve 175 steps and underground tunnels. My knee held up pretty well, though I was thankful that I wore my knee brace.

Views walking up to the crater. In part because of the Kapiolani Community College Farmer's Markey, parking was ridiculous, but we were there to hike anyway.

 About 2/3 of the way up, looking out from under an overhang. This was after a few steps.

From here you can see the ocean and buildings along the coast of Oahu's South Shore.

  After our hike, we relaxed at the beach a bit before heading home to get ready for Christmas Eve church services. After church, I made a pecan pie for Christmas day. (yes, I do make some amazing PIE!) We decided to hold the opening of any gifts until Christmas morning - a new tradition for me, but I really enjoyed just spending time with Eric and having a few special snacks.
  Oh wait, wondering where the pictures are from our view at the top? Well, when we got to the top, it started raining. Cold, in-your-face sideways rain that cut like sleet. I was thankful for my sunglasses as eye protection. We were both shivering and my knee was screaming, so we just wanted to get off the mountain. (Of course, when we started back down, it cleared up - even enough to head to the beach later.) At the top, we took a minute to look around and perhaps have a kiss, but we didn't even bust out the camera. Guess we will just have to climb this crater again. Wanna come join us?

Mele Kalikimaka!

Our first Christmas tree together as the Jacksons!

  Christmas, and December, in Hawaii is a little different; even after living in SC for about a decade. It is just so warm and bright and green here! We went to the beach Dec. 26th and soaked up some sun together. It was easier to choose ice tea than hot chocolate. The Christmas music says, "Mele Kalikimaka!" instead of "Merry Christmas!" However, I was determined to make it more festive at our house. Since most of my ornaments are in Indiana (I've been out of the country for a year) at my parent's house, and Eric doesn't really have many ornaments here, either; I decided we would hand make enough ornaments to fill our tree. Of course, there was origami!

This was a gift - our first Christmas together. It is complete with our name, wedding date, and a palm tree with the bride-and-groom bears.I also made red felt ornaments in the shape of Christmas items, like hearts and stockings and stars. Many of our ornaments included hearts. See the paper hearts, here, as well.

We focused mainly on a red-white-gold theme. Many ornaments were paper, including a paper chain. These fun little "spirals" were in the bouquet that we received on our wedding day from Eric's family. I saved them and then just shoved them into the tree.

There were store-bought Christmas balls. The tree came with lights, one of our super deals picked up in the middle of the night on Black Friday. (Eric wanted to go - this will NOT be a Jackson tradition.) Our tree topper was my first (and only, so far) polish star. These would work better as ornaments, not toppers. However, they are wonderful - and I will be making more. The brown bow here was saved (and moved) from my little tree in Korea. It was on a gift I got last year.

Another decoration at the Jackson household was fun, yet simple. I covered the backs of our two chairs with a basic red pillowcase, then tied it up with a white ribbon to look like a gift. Nice.

Our tree is about 5 feet tall, so we put it on an end table. I wrapped the bottom in a sarong I picked up on the cheap at the Goodwill. It is white with red and crimson hibiscus flowers - perfect for Christmas in Hawaii! I also strung up little gold bells to hang all around the tree, and we later added wrapped candy canes to continue the festivities. This is how I learned how much my husband loves peppermint... some of the decorations kept "disappearing". Ha. I also had some left-over poinsettia-looking flowers from another project, so I cut them apart and just sort of stuck them in straight, all around the tree.
  I made some origami this year, but the fans were from my friend, Anna. She has yet to teach me how to make these... Of course, everything got glitter. I think if you can see any green of the tree, you can always add more ornaments!

 Ornaments and decorations, up close!

Our pretty little Christmas tree. 

Happy birthday, Jesus!

   We had two good friends join us for Christmas dinner. Afterwards, we played a game of SouthPark Uno that lasted for over an hour. It was good food and fellowship with friends; but there was still no snow. We knew we'd get to see some snow later, as we were traveling to Indiana the end of December, but Christmas still felt odd. We went to church, but the Pastor had an aloha shirt under his robes. The evening service was at 5 PM. It was all nice, but still a bit odd. Our house was still festive, and it was nice to spend some relaxing time together. Oh yes, our house was festive... Once I start decorating... it's difficult for me to stop. I like to keep things simple, but nice and festive. For example, one of the towel bars in the bathroom...

The Jackson Christmas tree in the daytime... still beautiful!

Oooh, from where oh where did all those gifts come?!

May the angels and stars on your tree be more than just holiday decorations - may you always remember the real reason for Christmas, and that it is followed by Easter. Christ is born! Christ is risen! HE came, lived, died, and rose - so that you and I might have eternal life. Alleluia!! May you enjoy decorating your home, and may you always have good friends and beloved family members with which to celebrate. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Christmas Crafting!

One of my favorite things about Christmas is making gifts for others.

This year, I only did a few of my cross-stitched ornaments.

This was one, partially designed by request of the giftee.

 The top:

 The fabric pieces chosen:

 The other side:

One of my other friends uses blue and silver for Christmas:

 The top and hanging ribbon:

 One side. I even special metallic silver embroidery thread. Fun.

Two of this year's gifts.

 I couldn't post these earlier, as they were surprises - gifts!

One of my friends likes tea. (and ice skating, Russia, Alaska, and her boyfriend) 

A different year, I designed an ice-skating ornament for her.

This year, I focused on tea.

One side:

The other side had a mug, with two 

small hearts on it:

 The side:

This year, I tried my first attempt at "ribbon trees" - except

that I used paper. I really like these. There will be more!

So the big one is better. The little red/green one is a bit rough.

The bow on top - that is not my strength.

We call these learning experiences.

We used the big green/gold toned one at the Jackson house this year.

The little one went into a cupboard - to be "fixed" later.

For some friends and families, this year I made my first paper mache ornaments.

First, I made the paper hearts from scraps of brown paper, flour, and water.

Then I covered them with strips of tissue-origami paper. 

(chosen for the season/giftee)

Then I glued on pictures - either of the giftee and/or our wedding day.

Handmade. Personal. Fun!

I also made one for my sister and brother-in-law in honor

of their 10th wedding anniversary this year.

People seemed to like these.

For our tree, I made paper and glitter hearts.

   What crafts/gifts do YOU make at Christmas time?

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was our first Thanksgiving as Mr. & Mrs. Jackson!

I made a delicious pumpkin pie.

Eric was pleased to taste that I make some excellent PIE.

It was Eric's first attempt making a turkey...

Let's do this!

We knew we could figure it out together.

In honor of my new location, I made a cranberry-pineapple relish.

It was pretty tasty, except for the cranberries, of course.

Missing Denielle, I made hot spicy carrots:

The turkey turned out beautiful!

Per Eric's request, I got a family recipe from his mother to make spinach potatoes. Perhaps I was a little too fast and loose with the cayenne pepper... a good lesson for all. (I couldn't even eat them.)

We are not going to talk about the home-made dinner rolls. Let's just say, I learned something important about clarifying the amount of flour...

Two turkeys... and I love them both!

Hannah, dinner turkey, and Eric.

Thanksgiving at the Jackson's house!

"If God can love turkeys, then God can love you... You are a turkey, but I am one, too! So if you are lonely, and feeling quite blue... remember if God can love turkeys, then God can love you!" (sung to the tune of "On top of speghetti.."

Eric, my new husband, carves our first Thanksgiving turkey...

Carving... look at that deliciousness!

We had invited others to join us, but no one else came. Eric was actually a bit sick. (boo) We had a little "too much" food, even for us...

The nice part about being newlyweds and not having anyone else join us was that we could eat without pants on... we just got dressed for a few pictures. Tee he he. Happy Thanksgiving!

Our first official holiday together. Thanksgiving. Success!

From Psalm 107:1, for this and for every day:

"Oh, give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good."

Honeymoon!

   With all the wedding planning, we were thinking about just staying at our own house (new apt.) for our Honeymoon. It was a 4-day weekend for Eric, but he had to go back into work Monday. (which was also my birthday- Welcome to life as a Military Wife.) However, we had a guest staying at our house...

So two very kind friends "gifted" us with a last-minute hostel room in Waikiki for 2 nights. (THANK YOU!) Waikiki Beach is only about 40 minutes from where we were wed, but the APEC was in town and caused a bit more traffic! It took almost 1.5 hours to get to the hotel. We were tired and happy to finally be there, even if it would be a fairly short honeymoon. 

This was the view of the ocean from our balcony:

 Don't look down!

Wait, you didn't think I was really going to put up many
details about our honeymoon, did you? Ha. 

It was def. a memorable experience!

The other direction, view of the mountains from the balcony:

The newlyweds on the balcony, just before sunset.

Mr. and Mrs.!!!  Eric & Hannah Jackson: