Tag Archives: Christmas

Poinsettia

This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Red and Green.’ See more responses here.

Poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) have been associated with Christmas for centuries in Mexico and Central America, where the plant hails from. The plant was introduced to the United States in the 1800s, but it wasn’t until the last century that the Christmas link really took off. This was mostly due to savvy marketing tactics by the Ecke family, which had a monopoly on the poinsettia market thanks to their discovery of a secret grafting method which produced a denser plant and wasn’t duplicated until the 1990s.

The red ‘flowers’ are actually bracts, which hold the fairly insignificant flowers. On the Big Island, their brilliant displays are quite common on the west side of the island, where they can be seen as bushes and trees.

Christmas lights

Seasons greetings to all. I’ve swung by the Hilton at Waikoloa a couple of times in the early morning to see the collection of lights creating a festive display. Fronting the display is a large sleigh being pulled by a quartet of little deer (they’re not gonna make it down the block let alone around the world). But what makes it stand out is that the trees on the roundabout behind the sleigh, and all the way up the drive to the hotel, are wrapped with lights. It looks like a candy cane forest.

I used a tripod for the top and bottom shots, but for some the camera was handheld. Most of the shots were shaky, but I liked the one in the middle, in part because it caught a barrier rising making it look like a large red fan.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Hawi

It’s Christmas Eve, so what better time for a post about Hawi’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church. These photos were taken on a Wednesday evening and I’m not sure what the activity was inside the church. My goal was to take photos of the exterior without disturbing anyone.

When I got there, I was a bit surprised to see someone sitting on the steps outside the church, but they were absorbed in their phone and didn’t see me. I’d taken a few photos, when I realized that the figure on the steps had got up and was walking up the path to the church. That’s the person in clerical robes standing in the doorway in the lower photo. Shortly afterwards, he entered the church and I didn’t see him again.

While I’m not religious, I always enjoyed visiting churches in my native England and elsewhere. The interiors are usually cool and calm and conducive to reflection, and each church invariably has some feature of note. In this case, I liked the stained glass windows illuminated by the lights within.

Kohala Welcome Center under a full moon

On a recent foray into Hawi to get photos for last week’s Sunday Stills challenge (here), I took these photos of the Kohala Welcome Center. This is the place to get information about North Kohala for visitors en route to Kapaau and Pololu, which marks the end of the highway.

On this particular evening, the welcome center was illuminated by its Christmas display and a full moon, which also highlighted the palm trees that tower over that location.

Hawi Christmas lights

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Holiday Decor.’ See more offerings here.

This theme forced me outside after dark, something of a rarity these days. As usual, when I walked into Hawi, I thought, ‘I should do this more often.’

Here are a couple of the downtown buildings illuminated for the season. In truth, this was pretty much it for holiday trappings, but it’s still a good deal more than at my house!

Also posted, belatedly, in response to the last Friendly Friday challenge theme of 2019, ‘Christmas Preparations.’ See more responses here.

Aloha at Upolu airport

An Aloha greeting is mown into the grass at Upolu Airport

This Aloha greeting, mown into the grass at the end of Upolu Airport’s runway, greets arriving aircraft. At this time of year, it’s also traditional for the grounds crew to mow the words “Mele Kalikimaka & Haouoli Makahiki Hou” into the grass bordering the runway. It means “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”

I don’t have a photo of this because it’s only visible from the air, but here’s a link to the scene in 2016.