Mele Kalikimaka!  This is how our family celebrated Christmas 2001.

My daughter got her very own Custom X bodyboard (39" high).  Now daddy has to make time to surf with her!

Surprisingly, my wife suggested that we take a cruise out to the North Shore to check out the big surf.  On the freeway on the way out, we passed a surfing Santa, complete with hula skirt.  Talk about being in the spirit--my wife got this shot, we waved shaka to the driver and continued on.

Finally, we got to the North Shore, where the surf was supposed to be sizeable.  We parked close to Mark Foo's place and walked back to Waimea Bay.  Here's Mrs. Sponge getting some relief from the unrelenting sun.

We weren't the only ones there.  The paparazzi was out en masse, trying to capture the action.  Both tourists and pro photographers alike were ready in the wait for some heavy action.

The surf again was big, but not super huge.  Waimea was trying to pop, but most of the waves were just steep takeoffs with no walls.

"Is that a 20' wave," asked my wife again and again, to which I constantly replied, "Nope."

Here's the gimp (me) gawking at the surf at Pipeline right alongside the other tourists.  Note the whitewater out at 3rd Reef Pipe.  Photo by my aspiring digital photographer Spongette.

"High Surf"

Of course, with the beach closed and death closeouts everywhere, no one was out.

Driving back towards Haleiwa, we lucked into one of the parking stalls up on the west cliff of Waimea.  Really good vantage point to check out the traffic jam both in and out of the water.  I counted 40+ heads in the lineup.

Another shot from this angle.  Pretty good wave, but stoplights need to be installed out there to give inside riders the right of way.

Later in the day, we headed for Waikiki for a huge dinner buffet.  On the way, we noticed a ton of tourist on Waikiki Beach just gazing seaward.  They were all looking at the impending sunset that was absolutely epic.  Sorry, I wasn't carrying my camera at the time.  But believe me, Christmas in Hawaii is like no other place in the world.

Aloha!