Putting Away the Tree

We all have our quirks.

My mother likes to do some kind of laundry everyday, either by machine or hand.  Somehow she's got to wash something.  I don't remember this trait when we were growing up, but she does now.

Art feels he's got to run.  His dad had his 1st heart attack in his 40's and then died of one at 69.  Art therefore watches what he eats, exercises regularly and works hard to coax me to do it also.  Oh yes... and let's not forget collecting t-shirts!  Tons of t-shirts!

And me?  OK, the kids and Art will tell you I have a ton of them.  One of those quirks is that I like to put the holiday tree away as soon as Christmas is over.  Art would like to leave it for a while.  Mom doesn't care.  The kids just didn't particularly like helping to clean everything up.

Why am I quirky this way?  I guess I'm focused toward the new year.  It's a Hawaii tradition that you clean everything for the new year.  My mother will be cleaning and preparing to enter the new year with all debts paid, dust shaken out of the house, cupboards cleaned, food ready... and oh yes, everything laundered.

I like to finish projects so I can enter the new year... new.

I've got the closet caulking staring at me.

And oh... yes... back to the tree.  Christmas is over and my brain is focused toward preparing for the new year.

Art rolls his eyes and helps me since he can't stand to see me agitated until everything is done.  Besides, it will insure him having a happy new year.

(Day Before) New Years in Hawaii

There's a lot of New Year's traditions that I'd forgotten while we were away for 35 years on the mainland.

One of them is to pay a visit to and offer flowers at the graves and niches of our departed family members and friends. This is especially important to my mother so we took her to Nuuanu Memorial Park this morning to place flowers at the grave and niche of my grandmother and father. Yesterday, we took her to the temple to place flowers and offer a prayer for her dear friend.

After a happy visit with my aunt and cousin (who live nearby) we took mom to commemorate the last day of the year at Gyotaku restaurant.


Mom and Art ordered the lunch special with sashimi (raw fish), shrimp and vegetable tempura and teriyaki chicken.


I'm not a big sashimi fan so I stuck with California rolls for my sushi, karaage (fried chicken), shrimp and veggie tempura. The dishes also came with a salad and miso soup. I have not been good with my diet this holiday season. I will have to really turn myself around next year.


Kalei was our server and she took our photo for us. The food was REALLY fantastic and we left so stuffed that we knew we'd have to take a nap this afternoon.


I was surprised to see this Believe It or Not comic strip in the Chicago Tribune at least a couple of decades ago.

It's very true. Even though I was gone from Hawaii for three decades, I still felt compelled to finish my newsletters and thank yous before the year was out. We also had to pay all our debts, organize our junque and above all CLEAN the house.

Hmmmm... what happened? Our house is not totally cleaned this time. I've been working so hard to finish the newsletters, etc. that I haven't gotten around to house cleaning. My mother has done her area, of course.

I'd better go clean the bathrooms, change the sheets, dust the floors, organize my desk, etc. Art is snoring on his recliner after that huge lunch and early morning jog. Should I wake him to clean the windows?