Santa Claus is Coming to Yeoju

He arrived on Friday. In the mail. In a box. We felt real bad about leaving him in a box until December 25th, so we deliberated whether it would be okay to open it early. We decided it was fine for a few reasons: (1) I didn't want to wait. (2) Jenn didn't want to wait. (3) The package was from Mom & Dad Cook who already gave us a Christmas gift before we left (our winter coats) so we thought it might be something we would need to go along with the coats. (4) My mom mentioned she might send brownies through the mail. I wasn't sure if she was serious or not, but I wasn't about to risk having brownies go stale if they were inside. (5) Santa Claus was inside the box and he was advising us that it would be best if we let him out for some air. For all these reasons, we had a little Christmas celebration on November 18th. We made hot chocolate, put on our pajamas, and opened our gift. Yes, it's far too early for Christmas, but we're glad we did it for a few more reasons: (1) Santa can breath again. (2) There was something in the package to go with Jenn's new coat. It was a scarf that my mom knit and she needs to wear it on these cold Korean days. (3) There were several decorations in the box and they wouldn't be any good only on Christmas Day; we are getting maximum use of the gift by using them to decorate the apartment in the 5 weeks leading up to Christmas. (4) There was a nice selection of chocolate and candy canes; we need something to fill our snack bowl since the Halloween candy is gone. (5) It goes along with the way we do things. Remember how our wedding celebration lasted from May 13th to July 6th? This is our way of extending Christmas as well.

Sorry Mom & Dad if we were supposed to wait, but since we didn't, we now have a festive apartment that will get us in the Christmas spirit. The stockings are hung by the iPod with care. The iPod has become our tree and is decorated with tinsel. There are jingle bells on the door and a blinking Rudolph nose hanging on the wall. Santa has permanently parked himself on our sofa. There was also a Christmas meal in the package and this we will save until December 25th. Our wine is chilling in the fridge and Jenn is looking for recipes to delilciously prepare canned turkey.
Thank you very much for all the stuff. As you can see from above, we joined in the reindeer games with the toys you sent. We also had to wear our winter coats with all the accessories for the first time this week, so it was appropriate that Jenn could add the scarf to her ensemble. The cold weather we had previously was nothing compared to the frost that came last week.