MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!
I doubt if anyone is going to be reading my blog today because everyone is probably running around trying to do last minute Christmas errands or getting ready to spend time with family.
I'm glad to be here with the kids for Christmas. It hasn't felt at all like Christmas everywhere else I've been. There has been little or no evidence of Christmas, and with the warm temperatures, it just didn't feel like the time of year for Christmas to happen. I was glad to see Tayler and Meghan's apartment door decorated for Christmas, their little 2' foot Charlie Brown Christmas tree with a few presents under it, and stockings hung for the three of us. It's starting to feel like Christmas now. The temperatures CERTAINLY make it feel like winter at least. Thursday night when we went out to dinner, it was 18 degrees, but that didn't include the wind chill factor. It felt significantly colder than that. I could hardly function when we were waiting in the metro for the train to go home. Last night, it actually snowed, so it looks like we will have a white Christmas after all.
Diane flew home on Wednesday. I started getting a runny nose the night before she left, and it’s gotten progressively worse since then. I am stuffed up, my ear hurts, and I don’t have much of a voice. The good news is that I don't have anything really pressing me like I have every single day since I left home. The kids have been teaching each day, so I've just been home, anyway. It's been nice to just STOP and take it easy! Thursday night when we went to dinner with a couple of other teachers from the high school, it was bitter cold! I could hardly function when we were waiting in the metro for the train to go home.
I hope everyone is getting ready to have a wonderful time with their families today. Christmas is a time for families. I’m glad I’m with mine. Tonight, we’re going to do our usual Christmas Eve (within reason under the circumstances of being in Korea). I’m going to make clam chowder, and we’ll have some yummy bread. At home, I’d make shrimp cocktail, but I didn’t think we could find all the ingredients here. I’d have a lot more to the dinner, but this will be good enough. The clams came all the way from the USA with my nephew, Troy, and I’ve been packing them ever since Kenya. I’m so excited to finally get to eat them! We’re going to have to improvise on the half and half – milk and whipping cream – because they don’t have half and half here, either. Hopefully, it will work. Then, we’ll read a Christmas story, hopefully also the story of Christ’s birth in the scriptures, then watch Tayler’s favorite Christmas video – “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase.
In my travels at this time of year, I’ve come to a conclusion. I love all the gaiety and decorations, etc. at Christmas time, but perhaps as Americans, we go a bit overboard and forget the true meaning of Christmas – the celebration of Christ’s birth. I hope that we will all keep HIM in the forefront of our minds and hearts this day and throughout this holiday season.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!!
Love,
Kadi
Your skiff of snow is more than we have here. It's cold and bleak. I would have to agree with the overkill of Christmas. I'm trying to think of something better to do next year.
ReplyDeleteWow Kadi, I finally had time to catch up on your blogs. You've become a different person. What an experience you are having!
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