Parents, family members, friends and community members gathered in the Cannon Activities Center on Dec. 4 to join in the Christmas festivities as students from Laie Elementary School performed an annual Christmas program.
Delsa Moe, a director at the Polynesian Cultural Center and the emcee of the evening, shared, “It doesn’t feel like Christmas has started until Laie Elementary and BYU–Hawaii has their Christmas tree lighting. Then, it’s officially Christmas now.”
She added, “Everybody looks forward to it … It’s a community tradition, and, as you can see by the attendance, everybody looks forward to it.”
In years past, the Christmas program has a “Santa tracker” throughout the night, updating the audience on Santa’s journey to light the Christmas tree in the Flag Circle. This year, they decided to do something different and have the “Elves off the Shelf,” a group of students dressed as elves that told quippy one-liners throughout the night.
Lisa Hannemann, a music teacher for third through sixth grade and the planner of the event, explained she wanted to “mix it up” this year to better spotlight the hard work the students put into their performance.
“I didn’t feel like we needed to do [the Santa tracker] because I wanted to put more emphasis on all the kids. So, we did the videos with the kids in them … I tried to just put it all on the kids.
“I think they have more talents than you think they do. I think we get used to doing simple things with them, but they can do complicated things. There were singing parts, solos and group singing.”
The night started with a clip of the “Elves off the Shelf,” introducing the students. Then, the opening number consisted of a hip hop dance to “What Christmas Means to Me.” The hip hop dancers took turns on the stage with a group of students with candy cane batons, and they all eventually culminated into one number, dancing in unison to wow the audience.
Moe shared, “I am sure that the audience loved it. Not only seeing their kids, but seeing their neighbor’s kids, their relative’s kids and just seeing what the kids can do.
“You send them to school all day, and besides their homework [they bring] home, that’s all you see from [school]. So when you see them perform something like this, it’s very heartwarming.”
Each grade from preschool to sixth grade had a performance, each group singing songs like “Oh Christmas Tree” and “Run, Run Rudolph.”
“What I could tell from the people sitting behind me was that they were laughing, cheering and applauding, and I’m sure that was the same feeling throughout the whole CAC,” Moe commented.
Santa Claus came to the Aloha Center
After the Christmas performance, students, parents and families shuffled into the Aloha Center adorned with lights and garlands for the festivities. The Seasider offered ice cream scoops for a dollar, causing lines of excited families with ice cream, all anticipating Santa Claus.
With a backdrop of a cozy holiday scene, Santa sat in a chair and everyone took pictures with him, filling the Aloha Center with kids having fun and laughing. Kids received their very own “keiki bags” from BYUH, full of goodies for home.
Natasha Faalogo, a senior from Samoa studying cultural anthropology and social work, helped run the activities for the families waiting for Santa. She said they do this every year, but they just teamed up with Laie Elementary last year to coincide the Christmas program with the Santa visit for a night of Christmas entertainment.
“There were a lot of families that brought their kids here. I think they enjoyed themselves, especially with the kids. It’s always good to see them excited to take pictures with Santa, get the goodie bags from us and, especially, performing for the community.”