Donut Fridays: Christmas in Hawaii

This year Mr. Mingle’s brother and sister are both living in Hawaii, so rather then fly to Indiana for the holidays, his mother, and we, flew west to spend Christmas in Oahu. We had a wonderful vacation and it was nice to catch up with the family. We even had a chance to visit with Manoa Missy before she flew back to California to spend the holidays with her own family. Many, many thank yous to Missy for loaning us her apartment and car while we stayed in Hawaii!

My best memory of the trip is also a surprising one, because it doesn’t involve surf, sand or sun. Instead, it was about getting to know my sister-in-law’s mother-in-law. Wait, say that again? Mr. Mingle’s sister’s husband’s mother (got that now?) flew out to Hawaii from Bangor, Maine to spend Christmas with the family as well. I had met her once before at sis-in-law’s wedding in Maine last year, but didn’t get to talk to her much then. Lady M is 80 years old, going on 50. I am absolutely fascinated by this woman’s life and she is sharp as a tack. She certainly likes to talk, but I found her stories so interesting that I really didn’t mind the constant narrative. I especially enjoyed her story of how she went to Norway for her 80th birthday (by herself!) and her luggage didn’t arrive for 4 days. She joked about telling the tour group that she would soon have to resort to wearing her only other piece of clothing – her nightshirt – which she promptly whipped out to show us. A massive nightshirt covered in African safari animals. (She’s also been on four safaris…) We dropped Lady M off at her accommodations a couple of times while in Hawaii, which was at the University down the street from sis-in-law’s house. One of these nights she even invited us up for a nightcap to try some of this special liquer she likes from South Africa. I never thought I would be invited up to an 80-year-old’s place at 11pm for a drink! I hope to be like her when I’m that age.

Although we still had the traditional turkey meal with all the fixins’ on Christmas and opened gifts with the family, it felt very odd being in Hawaii because it was so warm and sunny. On Christmas Day Mr. Mingle and I dawned shorts and t-shirts and hiked up to the top of Diamond Head for the view. The only chance of a white Christmas there is on the beach! Sadly, within two days of returning to an unusually cold SF, Hawaii already seemed like a world away - but luckily there are pictures to remind us of the good times:

Manoa Missy and The Mingles