thoughts on christmas

christmas in the nakamura household rarely changes. we get up, open presents, eat breakfast, and then head out to drop off gifts to my mom's family that lives out in the "country." it's not your typical "country"-like setting....just the leeward side of o'ahu where most of the houses have not been renovated since the turn of the century, where the beaches are gorgeous, and where we see our family once a year.

it's always great to visit with my mom's side of the family. they open my eyes to the issues that i don't care about while i'm in boston: education for native hawaiians, economic and social opportunities for native hawaiians, and life as a native hawaiian. don't get me wrong, my aunts, uncles, and cousins who live out there are successful; they're not asking anyone to give them anything. they worked hard for what they have, and they're not letting anyone take advantage of them. but that's only a handful of native hawaiians who are doing what needs to be done. if the rest of the hawaiian population ignored the suppressed attitude that's been ingrained in their heads, we wouldn't have such a severe problem. but it's when people start asking for things without doing anything to get them that non-hawaiians get frustrated. and now i understand that. so, i'm going to take my cousin's advice, as i have already been doing for the last couple of years, and i'm going to keep doing what i'm doing, and work hard, and maybe one day, i can give back to my community by empowering those who did not see the light.

anywho....it was a good visit to the country, and we came home just in time to clean the house before the family came over for our, what i'd like to call, 'haole christmas dinner.' we had turkey, twice baked potatoes, green beans, rolls, stuffing and gravy. aunty joyce made namasu (the only non-haole dish), and we had marble cheesecake for dessert. the university of hawai'i beat the university of houston in triple-overtime 54-48, and then a post-game brawl ruined it. oh well, that's life. we watched "csi" and "without a trace" and then everyone went home. i fell asleep on the reclining chair (again), and woke up to find my sister walking into the house at 3:30 in the morning. she claims that she fell asleep at our cousin's house while watching "lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring." i don't even want to know if it's true or not.

now, it's 8:06, and time for me to take my dad to work....and then to come home and take brad and miki to school for soccer practice.

dad's ready to go.

-me : )