CHRISTMAS IN HAWAII

The weather may be like paradise but its not fit for Christmas. Of course, Christmas doesn't depend on the weather but Christmas trees do. They don't grow any in Hawaii. Many years ago some spruce were introduced to the islands for the purpose of growing trees for sailing masts. Since large sailing ships are as rare as snow on the Islands, no more were brought in. For many years now, it has been illegal to introduce new vegetation to the delicate tropical eco-system. Each year thousands of cut Christmas trees are imported on container ships from the mainland. This years batch of trees arrived a few weeks ago and were infested with yellow jackets. The wasps had gone dormant because of the cold ocean voyage but could come to life again with enough warm weather. Hawaiian agricultural officials would not let the trees be unloaded on the islands. New insects are worse than new vegetation. The Christmas lights will have to go on the palm trees this year.