Jen-nai Rowland still knows how to keep Christmas merry and bright.

For her, this holiday is marked by visions of joy and fascination, and by the warmth of a loving mother who used to transform her entire Maui home into a wonderland of decoration and delight each December.

It was all so enchanting to an impressionable little girl, that at the time Rowland could scarcely imagine those festive moments ever ending.

But end they did, and with her mother's passing, the magic seemed to flicker in Rowland's young life as well.

She thought she had found love with a man who soon turned hurtful, and then dangerously abusive.

When Rowland, 25, found the courage to flee with her two daughters — an infant and a 4-year-old — she sought the protection of relatives who had been there for her in the past, and who she was certain would not let her down now.

But they refused to take her in, fearful of whatever vengeance the man their kin had scorned might inflict upon their households.

Dazed and frightened, Rowland turned to a domestic violence shelter on Maui. But the abuser tracked her down, and his shouted threats of violence couldn't be ignored by shelter officials. Rowland was told she'd have to go — but not before staff workers assisted her in moving to a domestic violence shelter on O'ahu.

There, Rowland vowed she would take control of her life so that she could protect her children.

Later she moved to a transitional shelter for homeless families, and enrolled full time in an area community college, determined to pursue an education and a well-paying job.

"She is currently receiving a 4.0 grade-point average and her teachers are very supportive of her efforts," said Linoe McKeague, Rowland's case manager at Holomau na Ohana, an O'ahu nonprofit service agency. "She is really trying to move forward."

This will be Rowland's first peaceful Christmas in her own home setting with her daughters. Her Christmas wish is for a tree the three of them can decorate together, and so begin forming holiday memories of their own.

"It will be overwhelming for me, and I will probably cry," she said. "But I also think my mom would be proud."