Christmas Eve 2014 in Hawaii

I did a little shopping, my first Christmas shopping since arriving in Waikiki. I needed to get a present for Harry, and since he had already bought himself everything he wanted I was left with few options. I suggested I might do something edible, and he seemed enthusiastic about that. We went to Ala Moana Center, the big mall down by the water that isn't too far from here earlier in the week so Harry could quest for carved KOA wood bracelets and had dinner in the food court. I steered us to a Honolulu Cookie Company booth after dinner to get some samples of the kinds of cookies I wanted to get him. Cookies are a bigger deal here than ice cream or candy, probably because of the heat. I'd gotten some samples from the hotel front desk of the macadamia shortbread cookies and thought they would be a good choice. The booth had samples of all their main kinds, so we sampled them and then bought two each of four different kinds, so I got a good idea of what he likes.

I went down to the main shopping part of the beachfront road taking photos of Christmas decorations.

I love the Hawaiian style flowers on this wreath

This hotel was the first large hotel built here, and has been here since 1901

More Hawaiian themed decorations. These look more seasonal than the more traditional decorations used elsewhere here. 

Soon I came to a Honolulu Cookie company store and got a good selection of cookies for him. I decided to go home and hide them under the bed. On my way I stopped in a little, weird smelling Japanese convenience store and bought something called Mochi ice cream.  I wanted to try something different. They looked like ice cream bon-bons. I got a chocolate mint for $1.50. The sign said they were handmade on the island. It was a center of ice cream with an outside layer made of flavored and colored rice paste. The paste had a weird doughy, starchy texture, but it wasn't unpleasant to eat.

Next I passed a man dressed as the Shaka Santa, and snapped his photo, not realizing until later that he was probably there to pose for photos and collect tips. Oh dear. As I walked away a family stepped up to pose with him, so I suppose my quick snap didn't cost him anything anyway.

Shaka Santa

After putting the candy away I went back down the same direction and shopped at the Crocs store for some additional pairs of shoes for me that would be kind to my bruised heel bone. I got some black ballet style for church and some with canvas type uppers for casual wear without looking like I'm wearing Crocs. I wanted some thong sandals also, and they had some with leather type straps, but the foam was too firm. I took those home and had some lunch and a little rest. It was hot, I was sweaty, and I enjoyed cooling down by the air conditioner for awhile. Harry wasn't working a full day, so I didn't have time to go down to the beach and swim or snorkel, which would have been my afternoon plan otherwise.

While I rested I thought through the cookie thing. I was aware that he would probably share with me, and it didn't seem quite fair to give him cookies and then eat half. The only sensible thing to do was to go back out and buy more cookies! There are two main brands of cookies with shops at intervals all along the beach road, so I thought I would go to the other one and get a nice selection. After all, Harry was bringing home a complete Christmas dinner for us to cook the next day, thanks to a good deal offered by the Times market, and a selection of Christmas cookies would be the final festive touch!  I found the store and bought Mexican wedding cookies, palm leaves (crisp swirls of cookie and cinnamon), a selection of sampler macadamia shortbread dipped in chocolate, and a box of dark chocolate dipped macadamia shortbread.

Harry made grilled mango chicken for dinner and I went down to the beach for the sunset again.

The tide was just right at sunset to make some spectacular splashes against this eroded wall