I thought I would write a quick post about our Christmas here in Korea for those of you who are interested, if not stop reading now.
We had our tree set up for close to a month and it was really nice to have the colourful lights in the living room. D did a great job of setting it up and decorating it. There were so many lights on the tree that you could clearly see the lights from our window while on the street. Arnold really liked the tree as well and thankfully didn't unwrap any presents under the tree or pee on it like he has done on previous Christmas'. He like the tree so much that he would spend many a night staring at it.
You can see in this picture how spoiled we were this year with gifts. On Christmas Eve night D was lucky enough be let off a whole hour early. We spent that time going to the grocery store in search of more liquor, treats, and of course a new puzzle! We had decided that since this was our first Christmas together alone we would start our own traditions. For Christmas eve dinner we had squash gnocchi, made by yours truly and wine. All of this time on my hands has made me quite a good chef I must say. Then after dinner we had some of the liqueur that I made and has been sitting in the cupboard for 44 days and it was actually pretty tasty, very strong but good.
After dinner we settled down to do some puzzling and watch "Love Actually". This is a tradition I usually do with Alana or Allison but since they were not here I had to introduce D to it. He actually loved (har har) even though it is a very sappy romantic movie.
During the movie and puzzling we took turns rolling out the sugar cookie dough and cutting out shapes.
It was a great night and I honestly had trouble sleeping because of the excitement I felt for Christmas day. I still feel like a little kid on Christmas eve, one feeling I hope I never loose.
Christmas morning did not disappoint as we woke to full stockings and we went over to our friends Chloe and Grahams for breakfast. These two have been great friends to us and we were excited to spend the morning with them and their son Harry. We had a wonderful breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, tomatoes, mushrooms, and of course coffee and Baileys. Arnold had a great time eating the food that Harry would throw to him off the high chair, which is why when we go for walks Arnold always pulls me to Harry's house. Harry gave Arnold a bag full of tennis balls, he was very happy to have those. Here is a pic of the best buds
After breakfast we headed back to our apartment to open our gifts. Our tree was jam packed with presents that people sent to us, and had left us. Christmas shopping here is a bit challenging as both D and I found as most things do not come in our size and it is hard to find things you are looking for as we don't speak the language or they just don't have it. So we had a great time opening presents together and drinking coffee and baileys. Arnold even had a couple presents to open, it is very hard to wrap balls just for future reference. Here is a picture of the living room after all the carnage (note that D downloaded fireplace TV so that we could have a nice fire)
The rest of the day was spent watching some our favorite movies.
That night we joined many of the other foreigners at the Ocean View hotel for a Christmas dinner. The hotel put on a traditional Christmas dinner spread as well as some Korean favorites. It was tasty but sure made me miss a home cooked Christmas dinner! We had a lot of fun with everyone and after we headed home to finish our movie marathon.
So a couple of weeks after Christmas now and Ulsan is covered in snow. Some of the foreigners have been out making snow men as some as their children have never been around snow. It is not a novelty to me and I wouldn't be sad to see it all go away!
2010 was an amazing year and I know 2011 will be just as good and maybe better. I will be able to return home to Canada to my friends and family and of course D and I will be married. Thank you to all of you who have been there for us over the years, we love and miss you every day! Stay safe and keep in touch.
J
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