And as many magic moments of loud laughter and reciprocal smiles as possible in between.
If this fits the holy hands criteria of my brother's quote then I am all good to go for the silly season. "Haere mai Hanakoko, welcome Santa Claus - bring it on bro."
Right now, Hanakoko (Santa) is saddling up his reindeer and getting a warrant for his sleigh.
His elves have been maxing out their credit cards and daughter's piggy bank with a putea of presents, ranging from magic bullet blenders and guardian garden angels for the big kids with the big puku, to pretty in pink packages of brightly wrapped surprises for the tamariki.
Word on the Kumara Vine is three clever fullas have been sighted walking across the Kaimais, carrying gifts of myrrh and sweet smelling incense made by Frank, whose last name could well be Vosper, and a fold out deck chair each, heading for Bethlehem where they will arrive just in time for the night before Christmas at Mills Reef on Saturday, December 20 at 5.30pm.
Chances are Jesus and his mate Buddha will be still in town to greet them when they arrive. Apparently they are guest judges at the Joy Chip contest, where every competitor who makes 100 people smile over Christmas with random acts of kindness is in the running for a free all-expenses-paid holiday in heaven.
Santa has been seen diving down the Trinity Hotel chimney as well as on track at Gate Pa last Friday with Winston, Mr Ed and his team of talking horses. All full of Christmas cheer and talking up their chances of pulling a rabbit out of John Key's stocking in 2017.
There is a lot of wishing that goes on about this time in December and pots of goals at the end of rainbows are all that many have to hold on to. Others live in hope that, somewhere over the rainbow, good times await and the random acts of kindness by those who talk their faith by serving others is a tune they hum or strum on their ten guitars and ukulele.
The ukulele has been my friend this last week - more so the Wellington Ukelele Orchestra, who recently visited Tauranga. I didn't get to see them as it was all sold out but I did show up at Baycourt and bought the CD.
The pictures painted by the wailing waiata and nylon tickling tunes on this collection is something that any Christmas stocking would be proud to carry from tree to taringa (ears).
Music can be a great comforter in times of deep sadness and with the loss of a little mokopuna, where many of us have cried a river, the title track Slipping Away says it all.
Baby I've been watching you, sung with voices that soothe and played by hands that serenade, will always be a taonga to remember the precious moments we had together. But now it is time to climb back up on the happiness horse and ride it for all it's worth. If we all break the 100-smile barrier this Christmas, Tauranga will have an extra 100 million pockets of happiness logged on to joy chips across the rohe (community).
We can't turn back time to the good old days, when life was such an easy game to play, or fast-forward to where we may end up over the rainbow. But right now we can make someone else smile this Christmas.
And, according to my bro and his mate Buddha, and the teachings of Jesus, that's the holiest thing we can do for ourselves and each other.
-Tommy Kapai is a Tauranga author and writer. Contact him at broblack@xtra.co.nz
