Christmas Countdown

T minus ten days 'til Christmas!!  True, the first signs of Christmas here in late October brought my first pangs of homesickness (in Starbucks of all places!).  But now that the Christmas season is in full swing, there's something about the holiday that makes the world feel smaller.  It's like the verse in "Somewhere Out There": 

And even though I know how very far apart we are

It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star

With Christmas being the current star of so many of our orbits, I smile thinking about Dan and Andrew and Kris working on the tree lots in LA (check them out here!), my parents getting ready for Christmas in the Philippines, and our friends and family gearing up for celebrations.  On my end, I'm sitting here right now listening to Christmas music, sipping Sugar Plum Spice Tea, and watching the snow fall outside.

Being good Bolenders, we bought our (live!) Christmas tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  It was actually more of a feat than it sounds, seeing as we were continually told there are only artificial trees available in Seoul.  So we were beyond excited to find trees for sale in Yangjae flower market!  The negotiation itself was a bit of a comedy, especially since we are experts in asking, "how much" in Korean ("alma yay yo?", but don't know our numbers well enough to understand the answers.  The ending was a bit surreal as well, with Tyler trying to negotiate from $140 (tree + delivery) to $120, and the salesman saying, "Fine! $100 for everything!!"  

Learning from year's past, we decide not to name our Christmas tree (I'm still sad about leaving poor Charlie on our sidewalk) -- though since this tree is still planted in a pot, we're hopeful we can keep it alive for all our Christmases here! (which, yes, we realize is a stretch for us...)

Even though Christianity is the largest religion in South Korea (with 29% of Koreans identifying themselves as Christian, followed next by 23% of Koreans identifying themselves as Buddhist), Christmas is actually not a huge holiday here.  Christmas Day itself is a national holiday, but companies only give that one day off and it's rare for Koreans to take long vacations between Christmas and New Years, like we do in the States.

That said, Seoul has dressed up for the holidays.  I came back from the States last week to find our apartment building all decked out:

In our own apartment, we're starting our own traditions, which has primarily consisted of evening egg nog, Homeland, and one piece of sea salt truffles each (until I sneak off and get more -- always getting caught by Tyler after I was the one making the rule of "just one each").

And parties!!!  We're gearing up for the Samsung GSG holiday party tomorrow night.  The theme this year is the "Oscars" -- which the spouses good-naturedly laugh about... what about just an old-fashioned theme of, I don't know, the holidays?!  But Tyler is part of the planning committee (and is coordinating the after-party), so I'm sure it will be fun, red carpet and all.  

I love this season!!!  Stay warm :)