Christmas is in four days?!

I just realized that everyone back in the States is busy Nut-crackin' it up and I'm just breezing through December. I've been teaching and busy with other projects after work, that I've barely sat down and soaked in the holiday spirit. There aren't many places here that make a person feel like it's really Christmas - not like in the States. Starbucks does that. That's about it.

All of my family members have gifts being sent to them (thank you, Online Shopping, you make living in a country separate from my family much easier during the holidays), and KatieMichael, with whom I will spend Christmas, also have their gifts wrapped. I do need a few more trinkets for them though...

But, is it really Christmas? I feel so blank about it. Rather, I feel less "Christmas-y." I am really able to focus on the reason for this holiday. Jesus is what it's about, y'all. Every other Christmas before this has been wrought with cookies, presents, wrappings, trees, bows, lights, Christmas movies, decorations, and all the hullabaloo that surrounds December. I've decided I will watch one of my favorite Christmas movies on Christmas Eve or Day. I don't want to be too nostalgic about it all. After all, I don't know if I'll have another international Christmas celebration. The rest of my life, it might be spent in the States, so I need to enjoy being in the moment. But back to the movie: "It's a Wonderful Life" cannot be missed. I already saw "The Polar Express" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

It feels so different here. It's ok though. I know that my family loves me and I'll see them soon. I already did my crying over missing the holiday with them last year. See what I did there? Got all those tears out early.

God has been exposing some interesting things these past couple of days. I'm not ready to share it with anyone - or rather, I want to, but I know that I need to prayerful about it first. But know that my silence doesn't mean zero productivity...it never does ;-)

So far, this week, I:

- Shuffled my last with the wonderful children of MDream.
- Sang some Christmas songs in church; they were of course familiar to me, but some of the songs, my fellow church members had only sung in Korean before. It was very endearing.
- Made my lesson plan for the first week of January (i.e. time is flying)
- Did a Korean/English swap at Starbucks with a co-teacher ^_^
- Cancelled my gym membership and was able to get most of my money back.
- Was inspired to exercise, but do it more cost efficiently = running in the snow at 7am in conjunction with the aforementioned gym membership cancellation.
- Found out the next step God would have me take. I'm almost positive this blog will be littered with more thoughts on the subject. Until then....