Christmas Day in Hawaii was quit a surreal experience. I think this was our first Christmas morning at a hotel. The girls were a little scared that Santa might not be able to find us out in Hawaii!

On the way to the hotel Christmas Eve, we stopped off at a black sands beach. Hawaiian beaches are amazing and they have quit the assortment from white, black, red, and even a green beach (which we did not have a chance to visit).

Hilton Waikoloa Village

I'll admit, this might be one of the coolest things I've been able to work out. Took me a lot of phone calls and a lot of planning, but I was able to arrange for a Christmas tree to be in our hotel room prior to arrival. Being surrounded by females for a long length of time can be very interesting. When all the females in your family spent the first 8 days complaining about this "not feeling like Christmas," well let's just say the look on their faces was worth it! Yea....I know....I'm the man :-)

Santa even came to visit Anna Claire late on Christmas Eve!

Christmas morning in Hawaii - Santa did come after all!

Christmas afternoon was spent with the girls swimming with the dolphins. This might have been the best part of their trip! We enjoyed watching them.

To view more of the dolphin experience, click below:

Dolphin Quest

Christmas night we experienced a Luau and learned how to hula dance. Notice there are no pictures of me here...

To view more images from Hawaii, visit my FaceBook Albums:

Kauai Doors Off Helicopter Flight

To purchase photographs, please visit my gallery at www.russellhaddock.com

Christmas Eve in Hawaii was awesome – but very different. We started the morning out with three sick people. I came down with an odd fever the night before. Allison got a bad headache that carried through the morning. And Anna Claire got sick in the middle of the night. The plan all along was to do the Kilauea Iki hike through a hardened lava lake. But when it came time to leave, we decided not to push it and let Sarah and Ashlyn go on their own. Grammy, Allison, Anna Claire, and I went and had a good Hawaiian breakfast!