I hope that all of you at home had a WONDERFUL Christmas. I really appreciated the cards, phonecalls and emails-- so sweet to know that you were thinking of me, even though I am so far away :) I had an absolutely FANTASTIC Christmas. It was very low key, but full to the brim with warmth, friends and love.
Top 5 Highlights
5. Nertz
I hope I got the spelling right. This is a card game that a couple friends in my bible study introduced to me for the first time at our Christmas Eve sleepover. They explained it as group Solitaire + Speed. Google it if you aren't familiar. I was absolutely terrible-- we were playing to a hundred (first person to get to 100 points wins) and at the end of the game, my score was -5. I had a lot of fun, though, and next time if I end up on the positive side, I'm calling it a victory.
4. The Grinch and Elf
Two Christmas classics. It was fun to guage our Korean friends' reaction to Dr. Seuss and Will Ferrell.
3. Christmas Eve music at Dongsan Church
The night featured, among many other things, a Korean rendition of Avalon's "Testify to Love," an uptempo version of "Joyful, joyful" performed by our English service praise team, a group of ajumas in pink angel outfits doing a choreographed dance, a boy playing the saxophone while zipping through the crowd on roller skates, and a bunch of three year olds singing and stomping around in bedazzled green and pink dutch looking costumes (one of them even got so excited bopping up and down to the music that she tumbled off the stage mid-performace... she popped right back up unphased and kept doing her thing, though). It is times like these that I really wish I had my camera to share the wonderfulness that is Korea with you all.
2. Skype, Sleepovers, and Singing
The best part about my first Christmas away from home is that I didn't feel sad or lonely at any point. Not only was I able to skype my entire family (multiple times) and hear all of their sweet voices praying and singing together on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I also got to have back-to-back sleepovers with two great groups of people here in Ansan. It was wonderful to get to wake up surrounded by my bible study group on Christmas morning and to all head to church together. And my Christmas Day sleepover at the Dow's that evening was especially precious, because AP and I stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. singing and listening to Christmas carols (the guys joined us for about two songs, before moving on to video games). It was a sweet blessing, and a great way to end my first Christmas experience in Korea, because singing Christmas songs together is probably the one single part of celebrating with my family that I have always treasured most.
1. Spending quality time with the birthday boy
I know it's cheesy, but I love Christmas and I love Jesus. And I had a really great time thanking Him for being born :)
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