Christmas Day

On Christmas Day in the morning...
Christmas morning started off quite peacefully. Although I would have liked to sleep longer, I was thankful to get up early to have some sweet time in the morning...


I made cinnamon rolls with the ingredients my mom sent to me. Although I didn't follow the directions correctly (never seem to be able to when I'm cooking/baking)... they still turned out pretty well, which I was thankful for. =)


It was a lovely morning - eating cinnamon rolls, sipping some chocolate truffle coffee that my Aunt Rose sent, reflecting on the birth of Christ, opening some gifts, and skyping with my family. A special morning, for sure. I couldn't linger too long though... had to prepare for a Christmas party at Janis' place! =)

Christmas at Janis'

Janis has the biggest apartment out of all of us and graciously offered to host our Christmas celebration! So, we had a potluck dinner - Korean style. You'll notice everyone is sitting on the floor... totally acceptable here in Korea!


We were excited because Janis found some plastic real-looking plates in her apartment left from the last people. They left her so many useful things. So many treasures... =)


My complete experiment: Turkey Bow Tie Skillet. I was looking for some recipes online to use some canned turkey... and didn't have all the ingredients I needed, but the improvising seemed to work fine. Canned turkey, celery, green onions, green pepper, tomatoes, parsley flakes, pepper, bowtie pasta, garlic-seasoned sauce, and a bit of mozzarella cheese on top. I was relieved that it actually turned out! I'm beginning to have an itch to start cooking more with all of this Christmas baking and cooking that's been happening...


The girls: Janis, Millie, Cassi, Sara, me, Sung hee
(I was SOOO thankful that Sara was feeling better and able to come to our party!)

Opening Gifts
We played one of my family's favorite games - Apples to Apples after lunch. After awhile, Daniel was getting impatient about opening gifts. But before we opened gifts, Zane played a few Christmas carols on his guitar. We sang Away in a Manger and Joy to the World and passed the gifts around the circle when we came to certain words like "and"/"the" etc. (It was a spin on something that I do with my cousins every year using the story, "Twas the Night Before Christmas." We shared lots of laughter... then opened our gifts... followed by more laughter.

Janis got a dancing monkey, I think.


Cassi got some picture frames...


same for Zane


Tim got something to stick on your car and write messages on... not sure he'll be able to use it here in Korea, but it made for some good laughs. =)


COFFEE mugs!!! I was so excited. The best part... they match the bright orange, purple, and pink blanket my mom gave me before I came to Korea... and the pink and orange socks she sent me for Christmas. I love color coordination... and coffee... =)


Sara ended up with the gift I brought - a candy cane wreath with a high-quality Bethel College Chapel Band CD!!!


Sung hee received a basket full of sweets.


Daniel - the one that was most excited to open gifts - opened his gift last and was surprised with some fun girly socks. We all had a good laugh.


Oh, and Janis also opened up some lovely earrings sent from one of her dear friends from Canada.


Sara and I couldn't resist taking a picture with our brand-new-almost-matching snowflake socks. Her's actually light up when her feet are moving!


My dear friend Grace came later in the evening - I was SO happy to have her stop by! =)

Shortly after she arrived, we all decided it was time to get out of Janis' apartment and went with her to buy water downstairs at the convenience store. We were kind of tired of being in the apartment all day... so we went on a "Brisk Walk" and visited Janis' school - a whole two minutes away. We actually saw a couple of stars in the distance (something we don't really get to see here in Seoul). It was lovely - never mind the fact that we were standing in a freezing parking lot with an old run-down truck next to us and a locked-up school building in front of us. I think all of us agreed - it was one of our highlights of the day. =)


Another girls' picture... Sung hee, Grace, me, Janis, Cassi, & Millie


Saying goodbye to Sung hee


Oh Janis... I love how we both randomly burst out in song all the time!


Vince (our small group leader over the last term) came VERY late and brought us a bucket of KFC chicken... and stirred up a little bit of trouble, as usual!

By the end of the evening, I was exhausted (once again). Fortunately, Daniel and Janis agreed to help me carry home all of my dishes and cooking supplies. We hopped on a bus that I thought took me directly to my apartment. What should have been a 10 minute bus ride was more like a 30 or 45 minute bus ride, but I got home eventually. It was nice to see the city all lit up for Christmas on the way home.

Then I got to talk to my Nana & Papu for a little bit before crashing for the night.

It was a nice Christmas. Definitely different from normal... but some nice, new memories, for sure. =)