Okole Charades

Tonight we went to dinner at Curtis & Lori's. Since David & Sarah are leaving tomorrow about midday, they won't be able to be at Christmas dinner at Aunty Judy's, so Lori wanted to do something for them tonight. We played several games after dinner. One of them was Okole Charades, where you have to spell the song title with your okole. Team #2 (Curtis, Brent, Bick, Sarah, & Jenny) won 4 to 2.

The winning okoles! Brent seemed to be doing most of Team #2's spelling. L to R: Grandpa Nomura, Brent, & Jenny.

The first game we played was guessing what was in the "presents". There were 10 boxes we were allowed to shake to try to figure out what the items from an office were. Team #1 (Ron, David, Shaun, DT, & I) won that with 4 correct out of 10. Another game we played was a song title guessing game. The teams were tied after the first round which was 10 Christmas songs but it was from an instrumental jazz CD; many of the intros sounded the same! The tie breaker was from a CD that had vocals but both teams knew the songs for the first 3 or so songs. It ended when Team # 2 guessed "The 12 Days of Christmas, Hawaiian Style"; we just said "The 12 Days of Christmas."

The food was potluck. We had chuck roast, ham, salmon, tossed salad, rolls, gluten free biscuits, gluten free chocolate chip cookies, apple pie, date bars, and chocolate candy. Everyone contributed something to the dinner.

Clockwise from lower L: rice crackers, tossed salad, salmon, chuck roast, rice, ham, date bars, chocolate candy, Holy's Bakery apple pie, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cluten Free Biscuits, & Whole Wheat Fluffy Dinner Rolls.

L to R, foreground: Shaun, Brent, DT, David, Sarah, Curtis, & Lori. Background: Jenny Grandpa Nomura, & Grandma Nomura.

After we were done with games we went to see the Waikele Lights. It is a neighborhood near Curtis & Lori where they have synchronized the lighting to music for several adjacent houses. (If the link above is working , you can see a video of the light display. This link is to a TV interview.)


We spent most of the day baking. I made Fluffy Dinner Rolls and Gluten Free Biscuits. David & Sarah made Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Newly formed Gluten Free Biscuits.

Gluten Free Biscuits after rising; they can be put in the refrigerator for up to 4 hours at this stage.

Between baking (all the recipes called for 30 to 60 minutes of rise time) we worked on putting up the vertical blinds in the living room. David & Sarah did most of the work.

Sarah & David putting up hardware for new vertical blinds.

Installation complete! There are 14 missing slats that will be replaced when Curtis takes his blinds down.

When we arrived at Curtis' house there was still enough light for us to view the progress on the remodel. It's coming along!


Yesterday David & Sarah were on the North Shore. Along the way in their travels they found a gluten-free beer.


Happy Birthday to Vernon!