In Our View for Saturday — December 25, 2004

• Christmas Day greetings

Christmas Day greetings

Having Christmas Day fall on a Saturday this year is creating an extended weekend celebration for families and friends across Kaua‘i. This well-earned respite from the ever more busy daily life on the Island brings back memories of Christmas past, and of the slower pace of life found on Kaua‘i in past decades.

The rainy weather of this week isn’t dampening the holiday spirit, in fact a rainy, foggy weekend at Koke‘e brings back the feel of chilly Mainland Christmas days that many of us have experienced at one time or another. The inclement weather is a blessing for our water reserves and our farmers, while visitors may be disappointed to find a lack of sunny beaches, though there are surely some out there if one looks hard enough.

The Christmas spirit spilled over this holiday season, as noted in the endless stream of Christmas giving stories our roving reporter and photographer Dennis Fujimoto turned up over the past month. It seems more was done to help the needy this Christmas season then in recent memory.

Today also marks the beginning of the end of 2004, a year that has seen great change on Kaua‘i. Watch for a wrap up on the big stories of 2004 in next Saturday’s New Year’s issue of The Garden Island.

We at The Garden Island want to wish our readers a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year, and thank them for their continued loyalty to Kaua‘i’s main source of local news. Mahalo for those who contributed to our newspaper, too, and to our staff for their hard work putting out Kaua‘i’s daily news seven days a week, 365 days a year.