Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Tuesday ramble

I wonder what Clarissa is doing right now. I wonder if she has a pretty Christmas tree to look at, and I wonder if she's going to have a present to open on Christmas morning. Some Koreans celebrate Christmas and some don't. The ones that do pretty much do it the same way that we do it here. I hope that she gets to hear Christmas carols and see the Christmas lights. As excited as I am about Christmas this year, a little part of me is sad that Clarissa isn't here with us. I knows she's out there somewhere, spending Christmas with someone else. She should be home with us.

I've been looking for a Korean Christmas tradition that we can start with our family, but it's been tough because Korea gets most of the Christmas traditions from the US. Because Korea been largely Buddist, Christmas hasn't really been a big deal until recent years as the Christian population has started to grow. So those that do celebrate Christmas do it the American way. They put up a tree and sing carols and exchange gifts. Korean New Year, which is in January, is the REALLY big holiday of the season in Korea, so they do a lot of their big celebrations then.

But a few weeks ago I was looking online for Korean related things (which I tend to do a lot these days!) and I came across a statue of Grandfather Santa, who is the Korean Santa Clause. He looks like an old Asian man with a white beard and he wears a long green robe. I like him. So I decided to buy Grandfather Santa and make him our new Christmas tradition.

When I got him in the mail I called the kids into the room and showed them the statue and told them that Grandfather Santa is going to show up with one gift every year. I'll hide him somewhere in the living room on Christmas Eve and the first person to find him Christmas morning will get Grandfather Santa's gift. I'll make it something small and simple, the kids are getting enough gifts as it is, but I though it would make a fun family tradition for our family, and a way to keep something Korean in our Christmas celebration. Grandfather Santa is currently sitting on an end table in the living room, thinking over what gift he's going to bring on Christmas morning. :) The kids are loving it.

Matthew has been really into Star Wars lately, and he has assigned us all Star Wars names. This morning he told me that when Clarissa gets here she'll get to be Princess Laia. That made me smile, I love that he's already including her in his thoughts and that he already considers her a part of the family. By the way, our big old lazy, fat cat is Jabba the Hut. Oh yes, everyone in this house gets to be someone. This morning Matthew (I mean Anakin, as he often instructs me to call him) instructed me (I'm Asoka, whoever the heck that is) to drive the pod racer home from Walgreens. Apparently driving 40 miles an hour was fast enough to win the race. I rock. :)

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