Hawaiian Holidays

It never quiet felt like Christmas here, but a few adventures helped. Although Maui has had a pretty wet Winter compared to recent years, it doesn't have the cold chill that everywhere else in the states do for Christmas. Most days were in the 70's with a few exceptionally rainy days.


Some girlfriends invited a bunch of people to go out on a "sleigh ride" around town one night. A guy friend, Ian, has this massive van that he decorates the inside for the different holidays and had recently dolled it up in Christmas lights, a little Christmas tree, presents, etc. and called it a "sleigh ride" hehe. 

In the end, we learned we were going "ELFING." As in, "You've been ELF'D!" We drove around Lahaina and created Christmas on our friend's doorstep using tinsel, fake snow, Reindeer poop, and lovely notes from Santa's elves (us).

Elves Christmas Caroling "Rudolph, the Red Nose Reindeer"

You may have noticed the Champagne. No worries, Ian (the driver) passed the rule that you cannot drink while the van is moving and when the Christmas lights were off on the inside, only when parked outside the houses we were about to elf.  That was Maui trying to play by the rules. There were lots of people, so lots of bottles. A few elf'd houses also got a few empty bottles of champagne...

Christmas in Maui:

I failed to get a picture of something adorable that Maui does for Christmas. You know the guy outside the grocery store that dings the bell  with a bucket for donations for charity, well Maui has their own style of doing that. With a ukulele. Or drums. Darling Maui :)

A little DIY project I completed to be one of a our very FEW Christmas decorations

Here comes Santa, Hawaiian style! Paddled in on his canoe! 

Santa set up shop on stage and took all the keiki's (kid's) Christmas gift requests. Santa in a red Hawaiian print shirt and red board shorts. But he still has his hat and long white beard :)

Hula Grill provided cookie and ornament decorating

Many of Hula Grill's employees paddle for the Kahana Canoe club so they paddled Santa down Ka'anapali Beach and parked in front of Hula Grill

The long line to see Santa

Some employees as elves helping out with the event

Hula Grill is such an awesome restaurant to work for. As you can see from the event above, we put on the coolest, Hawaiian style events that make our guests have a very memorable experience :) Another example is on New Years Eve, we are open much later than usual. We'll serve food until 11pm (usually 9 or 9:30), serve drinks until 12:30am, open lots of champagne, a special band playing for the later hours, and a dance floor cleared out in the sand. The only problem is I was scheduled a double... I got the morning shift covered though, or else I would have been working a 14 hour shift :-/ Jon will be off early so he'll probably come down to Hula Grill so I can have my New Years Eve kiss (even though I'll be on the clock).

Dressed as an elf on Christmas Eve.
 I stuffed the hat with napkins to keep it pointed up.

On Christmas Eve I also worked a double. And from the kindness of a stranger, I got a $100 tip from one of my tables in the afternoon :) Praise God! And I really do mean, Praise GOD because my evening shift I walked with only $45 because it got very cold and rainy in the evening and I had the rainiest section... Hula Grill is an outside restaurant for the casual dining Barefoot Bar. There are a bunch of large umbrellas or "palapas" that strive to cover the tables but I unfortunately had a section with only one covered table out of my 4 tables. I was blessed with a  few people sitting in the rain, simply because they did not want to wait for a covered table, so I was thankful for the $45.

The other part of Hula Grill is a covered fine dining restaurant. Christmas Eve is a VERY busy night for indoor restaurants. So the dining room at Hula Grill was pumpin'. The kitchen and chef were going crazy, the waiters were very busy, bussers, food runners, etc etc. Then the call came in that almost all of North Western Maui had lost power. Two hotels away from Hula Grill was even out of power! The lights flickered a few times but we were fortunate and did not loose power! But Jon's restaurant was not so lucky... Pineapple Grill is up in Kapalua by our place, and they lost power at the busiest time of the whole night for 30 minutes. That means the lights, oven, grill, heaters, etc all went out. All they could do was just sit around and wait for power to come back on... Eventually it did and food prep began all over again. Needless to say it was a bit stressful.

But Christmas Day both Jon and I were off and have an ever-so relaxing day together. We spent the morning time with my aunt and uncle.

Jon and I  decided to pass on the pricey Christmas gifts and save on more important things, so just exchanged stockings with goodies and gag gifts. Plus the kittens got their own stockings :) with some "Kitty Kaviar" and a cat nip filled mousey. 

Our Christmas Brunch yummy table 

He fits in so well :)

We went on a beautiful Christmas stroll down to the market to pick up supplies for our evening dinner.

Manacotti

In honor of my new last name, and Jon's heirtage, we began a Christmas tradition to prepare a scrumptious Italian dinner with a scrumptious Italian wine! 

Along with the tradition, we shall watch Elf every Christmas!

Happy New Years to all! Remember do what makes you happy, surround you self with positivity, Praise God for each and every little blessing, and... dance every chance you get!!! :D :D

Happy New Year!

Maui No Ka Oi