Too early for Christmas?

Let’s see: Decorations have been in the stores for weeks, in some cases. Black Friday is going to start on Thursday, while the turkey’s still warm on the table. Finally, a few radio stations already have let it slip they don’t think it’s too early to air seasonal music.

So it should surprise nobody that two shipments of yule trees already have landed on Honolulu’s shores. In all, officials expect about 120,000 of the cut trees from the Pacific Northwest, and they have to be inspected for bugs or whatever ills they’re threatening to bring ashore from the Pacific Northwest, and then processed for retail sale.

No wonder they have to get here before Thanksgiving.

But as for you early players of carols, you early stringers of holiday lights, you Black Friday pushers, no excuses.

Seriously, can we postpone one or two things until it’s actually December?

Hanging loose with Clooney

"The Descendants," the new film featuring George Clooney, brought its star up close and personal with neighbors.

That happened in a nice way, according to some in Laie, one of the Oahu locations used in the spring of 2010. At the end, Clooney celebrated with some of his Laie hosts at a neighborhood gathering.

The actor, who has clashed with paparazzi throughout his career, gave the amateurs leeway to snap away. The pros would have killed for such access, of course, and so far the neighborhood seems to have returned the favor, keeping the precious pics close to the vest.