Christmas in Korea

For the first time in a long time, I’m a little sad that Christmas is over.  In America, Christmas is commercialized to the extreme.  It’s to the point where stores will start putting out Christmas displays before Halloween and we are bombarded with Christmas ads and music before Thanksgiving.  My last few years in America ended up with me being sick of Christmas by the first week of December.  I don’t mean to sound like the Grinch, but as a result, I would usually be glad when the calendar showed December 26.  

Here in Korea, Christmas is not this overwhelming, in-your-face holiday that it has become in the United States.  In fact, if my students are to be believed, Christmas is treated just like any other holiday here.  Yes, there is some commercialism and celebration of Christmas here, but it’s on a very small scale so that a choice exists for everyone to either notice it or ignore it as each person desires.  When I leave my apartment and go out in public, I’m not completely engulfed by Christmas décor nor are my ears assaulted by the same 7 Christmas songs played over and over again.  Because of the more subtle nature of the holiday here, I was able to enjoy the season much more than I have in recent memory.

While I did not partake in any large parties or anything, I did celebrate the holidays with a small group of friends here in Korea.  Several of us got together on a couple of occasions to watch Christmas movies, such as Die Hard (a must-see every Christmas), Christmas Vacation, and A Christmas Carol. 

There were also a couple of small parties to celebrate the season.  The members of my language exchange group celebrated one night by doing a pot-luck dinner followed by a grab bag gift exchange.  Of course, no night out that includes Koreans would be complete without a visit to a noraebang (karaoke room).

 Language Exchange Group

Grab Bag!

On Christmas, a small group of us spent most of the day together.  Weeks prior, we planned a Secret Santa exchange so we kicked off the festivities by exchanging gifts.  I got what looks to be a delicious gift box of beer.  This led into an afternoon of drinking and playing charades.  In the evening, we had a dinner reservation at Dino Gogi, an all-you-can-eat meat restaurant.  After dinner, with our bellies stuffed full of meat, we took a quick walk to the lantern display before we called it a night.

 BEER!!!

Charades!

 Lantern Display

The ONLY Christmas decoration put up by the 

City of Changwon, that I know of.

I’ve said it before, but now that I have a comparison, I can confidently say that commercialization ruins Christmas, at least for me.  However, I think it’s safe to say it’s not going away in America anytime soon.  Even if I don’t ever see another Christmas outside of America, I can always look back at this year and say that at least once in my life, was I able to truly appreciate what the Christmas season is all about.