Christmas can arrive on ocean breezes, in slack-key carols, and in the glow of lights against a tropical sky. In Hawaiʻi, the season carries its own island warmth and welcome. As songwriter R. Alex Anderson wrote, with a smile in every syllable: “Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way, To say ‘Merry Christmas’ to you.”

The quotations below hold that same spirit of warmth, memory, and wonder — from snow-dusted streets to island stars.

Christmas is a kindling of new fires. ~ Gladys Taber

We are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas. ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which men become entirely alive. ~ Robert Lynd

Christmas is here, merry old Christmas, gift-bearing Christmas, day of grand memories, king of the year! ~ Washington Irving

The ribbons! The wrappings! The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings! ~ Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, come forth from deep within me with Christmas luminous beauty. ~ Edward M. Hays

Christmas is not an external event at all but a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart. ~ Freya Stark

Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart… filled it, too, with melody that would last forever. ~ Bess Streeter Aldrich

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. ~ Irving Berlin, 1942

Feathery flakes are falling, falling from the skies in the softest way, and between are voices calling, “Soon it will be Christmas day!” ~ Mary B. Dodge

Christmas is a bridge. We need bridges as the river of time flows past. Today’s Christmas should mean creating happy hours for tomorrow and reliving those of yesterday. ~ Gladys Taber