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There’s plenty
of good cheer to go
around for New Year

The gifts are all opened, the calories packed on and the hustle and bustle is finally winding down. But before moving on to the New Year, there are a few people to recognize. A shout out goes to a minivan driver who handed a gift to the homeless guy at the Vineyard Boulevard and Pali Highway intersection at 9:50 p.m. Thursday. ... Congratulations to this year's AARP Andrus Award winner, Wilfred S. Pang, for his community service work at Palolo Chinese Home and elsewhere. ... Hooray for Alan, Angela and Rhea Pike of Wailuku, who received a gift basket from the Surfing Goat Dairy in Kula, Maui, on Dec. 19. Dairy owners Thomas and Eva-Maria Kafsack started casual tours of the dairy in July 2003, and the Pike family was their 5,000th tour. ... Way to go, Keali'i Reichel! He took fifth place on Billboard's Year End Top World Music Artists and sixth place on its Year End Top World Music Albums for "Ke'alaokamaile," gearing up for 2005's Grammy Awards on Feb. 13, when a Hawaiian Grammy will be awarded for the first time ... A white Christmas is nothing to dream about, according to comedian Augie T, who e-mailed from Indiana on Christmas Eve: "I just want to say that we're lucky we live in Hawaii. The temperature is -7 as I am writing this. It's too cold to do comedy, and all of my mainland shows have been canceled." Despite the circumstance, he said, "I am truly thankful this Christmas." ... Keiki not ready to let go of the holidays can attend John Robert Holbrook's book signing of "Gingerbread Jimmi," 4 to 6 p.m. today at Bookends in Kailua. ... And for a reader who wanted to duplicate Neiman Marcus' holiday display -- the white cascading butterflies are available by special order through the store at $35 for a 10-foot strand and $68 for a 20-foot strand. ...

Now, on to the New Year! On Friday, Vino's in Restaurant Row is saying goodbye to 2004 by offering some of the best wines tasted this year. The list, ranging from the bubbly to world-class wines by the bottle, includes Louis Roederer Cristal 1997 ($185), Moscato d'Asti, La Spinetta "Quaglia" ($25) and Rafael Cabernet Sauvignon 1997 ($55). ... Need a ride home after all that revelry? Safe Ride will get drinkers who live from Hawaii Kai to Aloha Stadium -- and their cars -- home safely for a nominal fee. Check them out at www.saferidehawaii.com or call 737-SAFE (7233) and have a GREAT NEW YEAR!