Circle Of Light: VACATION

This time of year seems to be filled with activities. The kids had their treasured Advent Spiral which signifies the inner light of the child as the light of nature wanes. A beautiful spiral is created with pine boughs. A lit candle is placed in the center of the spiral. The children take turns walking into the spiral and lighting their candles which have been placed in cored apples. They then place the lit candle anywhere along the path as they exit the spiral. The room transforms from a dark space to brightly lit from which all quietly leave, taking there inner light, thoughts and feeling into the night.

We took a risk and attended the Nut Cracker - Aila too! It was a wonderful performance by a local dance academy in a historic theater located in downtown Hilo. Although it was almost 3 hours long, Aila stayed alert dancing and clapping.

Then there was the MAITREYA PROJECT Heart Shrine Relic Tour which was in Hilo. The purpose of the tour is to bring spiritual benefit to all sentient beings. "Maitreya" means "loving kindness" and has been adopted as the theme to promote world peace. This collection of extraordinary relics of Buddha Shakyamuni, his disciples as well as Buddhist masters from Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, Theravadin and Korean traditions have traveled the world and were on their way to Northern India.

......then onward to ornament making for the school store.

Elijah had his first report assignment. He was to select an animal to observe and write a story about it as well as draw it, create an art project (see below) and then present a 5-10 minute presentation for his class. I am so proud of how hard he worked and how well he did. And he did do it all by himself. Our job was to keep him on task and check for spelling errors. As you can see he selected a duck. We have several friends with ducks so it was easy to go and observe them.

Remember, Secret Santa...well Elijah had his friend Kai who loves to surf and read. This led to Elijah making him a surfboard bookmark. He did such a great job with the stitching.

And we certainly cannot forget our TEACHERS! We had made pickles this summer and with a little fabric along with knitted apples we had our gifts covered.

The school year came to a close with the annual Festival of Lights. I cannot believe the talent. Elijah's class sang, played recorder, violin and ukulele. Wow, they are really working those right hemispheres.

Took a very little video since my camera does not pick up well in the dark.

The weekend was also filled with festivities. We were invited to the local Moorman church by Elijah's scout leaders for dinner and music. It was a terrific night spent with old and new friends.

Sorry for jumping around but I never showed off Lotus from earlier this Fall riding her (Elijah's old) bike.

Our cat Mona goes wherever we go.

Now for the GRAND FINALE.....Santa Clause. A friend of mine for three years now has invited Santa to her house. She met Santa while standing in line at Safeway. He had recently moved to Hawaii for some sun and fun and was more than happy to come over for a visit. It is so much fun. The kids decorate cookies and ornaments while waiting for his arrival. The past two years he showed up in a convertible. This year it was a green blazer. Santa must have been a bit naughty this year.

As you can see Aila did great. Santa remembered us from past years and wanted us all to get in a picture with him. He also told us he was currently working on a book and planned to include two stories from our children. One was last year when he found Lotus sobbing because she had dropped her decorated cookies for Santa in the dirt and gravel. Santa went over and told her it would be okay and helped her pick them up. He then proceeded to eat them, dirt, gravel and all which quickly put a smile on Lotus' face.