December 4, 2010- Island Style Christmas Tree Lighting

    

     For the past 43 years, Kwajalein has held an annual tree lighting ceremony on the first Saturday in December. This is the big event to start off the holiday season for our tiny island community.  I’ve watched this event evolve from the real pine tree imported here to the front of the Yokwe Yuk club which was trimmed to fit the typical Christmas tree mold and decorated with large ornaments, tinsel, and lights to a fake tree set up outside the mini-mall area decorated with ornaments purchased and hand painted by resident families to this year’s newest and most truly island style coconut palm tree ordained delicately with lights running around and around the trunk to trickle down and off each palm frond at the top, sort of like a holiday umbrella.  The event actually kicks off with the arrival of Santa, who in the past has always arrived by the Roi commuter plane, but this year, he pulled up in a boat off the magnificent Pacific, which seemed fitting for an island Santa.  After the candy laden Santa greets the children lined up to see him, St. Nicholas gets onto the Santa Mobile (a large flat bed truck) and rides to the down town area while the “Wheel Walkers” protect the children running by the vehicle who are grabbing candy pinged at them by the Elves on the truck.  Sounds strange and maybe a little dangerous, but the kids love it!

     Once everyone makes it to “downtown Kwaj,” there’s an official ceremony which has also evolved over the years, but has always included a welcome, prayer, Jr./Sr. High School band and choir performances, and this year, the Girls Scouts singing, the hula dancers telling stories with their hands, and my boys as part of the hip-hop group taught by their PE teacher (a Caucasian women who is very good at being gangster and choreographing some very cool routines for a group of mostly boys, who would probably never dance otherwise). I was proud of my babies as this was their first performance in front of the entire community at this annual ceremony, and all they kept saying afterwards was, “That was so fun!”  They are now officially on record as participants in this long standing Kwaj tradition.  Island boys they are and no matter what, probably always will be.