"It's beginning to look (and sound) a lot like Christmas!"

The snow came. And came some more. Last weekend and most of this week it snowed. So pretty.... but so cold! Well, for some of the time, anyway. The daytime temps have been high enough that the snow hasn't really built up too much. It's still nice to look at, though- especially on the hills at the edge of town that I can see from the window of the gym. We bought a fake tree for our apartment (real trees aren't even an option unless we wanted to be involved in some sort of illegal activity :) ), put lights on it, and are in the process of decorating it with homemade ornaments. Thus far it consists of snowflakes, origami, and whatever other paper thingamabobs we come up with. I still want to string popcorn, but that hasn't happened yet. Christmas is not a very big deal in Korea. Kids might get Christmas Day off of school, but nothing like the week or two that kids in the States get. I've been told that basically the only people who celebrate Christmas are: Christians, lovers, and children. And even they don't celebrate to the extent that Americans are accustomed to. Although, businesses are very fond of Christmas-themed displays. Normally (well, at least for the past 9 years) I'm used to having tons of vacation time around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but this year I have no vacation in either November or December. Well, actually I have the 30th off as the beginning of winter break.... Still, not for Thanksgiving or Christmas :) It's just strange to be in a country that wasn't based on a Christian worldview. Most families here 1, 2 or 3 generations back were Buddhist. Nowadays there is a relatively large percentage of Christians, but it's more recent so Christian "stuff" isn't ingrained in the culture as it is (or was?) in Europe or the U.S. It's also strange to be away from home for the holidays. Honestly it's tough to hear about the festivities at home and know that I'm missing them. Still, I want to hear about them and see pictures and everything... Oh, and we've been playing Christmas music LOTS. We kinda rotate between all three of ours selection. I just got my "Happy Christmas" music from home for some less-than-traditional stuff (Mom, it's not nearly as bad as Tracy's Ren and Stimpy cd!!). Then, today in Seoul I bought a 6 cd set of 100 Christmas songs with everything from Bing Crosby to the Spice Girls to Twila Paris to the Beach Boys. It's fun. And I'm introducing Christmas songs during English service. It's yet to be seen if I'll actually be there on Christmas, though. We're talking about going to Seoul...