She's obsessed with winning a trophy. He's married to the competition. Together, can they rekindle the real meaning of Christmas?
Aloha Cafe owner, Noelani Kekoa, loves all things Christmas—the music, the children’s gift-drive, and the decorations. She especially loves the thought of winning the trophy for “Best Christmas Lawn Display.” This could be her year to win, if she can only come up with an idea better than Caroline Hoapili, Kona’s reigning queen of lawn decorations.
Caroline’s husband, Kalama, isn’t quite sure how to handle himself after Caroline packs up and flies to Honolulu to buy her decorating supplies. He’s never learned to cook and ends up eating all his meals at the Aloha Cafe where he experiences, firsthand, that Noelani’s obsession with winning the trophy is equal to his wife’s.
With the deadline looming, Noelani prays for an idea to present itself, but is she praying for the wrong thing?
The setting is a small town in Hawaii. The heroine is obsessed with winning a lawn display trophy and almost loses sight of the true meaning of Christmas.
Readers will enjoy the familiar theme of wanting something so badly that the heroine loses sight of her beliefs. Finding her way back is both humorous and poignant.
Noelani went to the kitchen to talk to Aka about their donation for the season, and he challenged her to match a five-hundred-dollar anonymous donation plus the meal they’d serve the families at the children’s party. Noelani looked at him suspiciously. “I hadn’t noticed you gave up your Scrooge hat. Why the change of heart?”
“No change. I still don’t like all the hype, but I also don’t want our keiki to miss out on the magic of Christmas. Remember the winter of ’71?”
“Uh huh. Tough times in Kona.”
“We were in fifth grade. Coffee prices were down, and even though the rest of the state was economically stable, Kona suffered. My parents pored over numbers every night. When I was older, Dad explained the cost of producing and harvesting coffee that year was greater than the price they received from the processor.
“Despite that, I remember Mom and Dad gave us kids a memorable Christmas. Later, I figured out the town pulled together to buy presents for every kid whose parents needed help.”
“I remember.” Noelani bobbed her head. “My folks weren’t any better off than yours. I got an Easy Bake oven, and my brother got a wagon. What’d you get?”
“A bicycle and an undying respect for the townspeople of Kona.”
“Amen to that. I’ll go tell the Chamber we’ll donate food for the children’s party, and I’ll talk to Maylee privately about the monetary donation.”
“Don’t repeat what we talked about,” Aka said. “I wear the Scrooge hat very well.”