Merry Christmas, everyone! For many people Christmas celebrations end on December 25. But in our family we’re Twelve Days of Christmas types! For the big day itself we met with my dad/the kids’ Dziadziu (Polish for grandfather) at the halfway point: Hawaii.

We spent our first two nights in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, visiting the USS Arizona and USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor.

Tessa decided to try a surfing lesson and caught waves on her first time out, proving that is far cooler than any of us will ever be.

We enjoyed dinner and checked out the Christmas decorations at the Hale Koa, the military’s fancy resort in Waikiki.

Next we flew to the Big Island: snorkelling, Volcanoes National Park, and our hands-down favorite activity: a helicopter tour over the lava fields.

After four nights there it was back to Oahu, more snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, then home to Japan the next morning.