Christmas Celebrations in December
A month packed with Christmas celebrations, December, has to be one of my favorite times of the year. I can’t quite believe that I’ll be leaving Korea soon. However, aside from that I’ve been trying to live in the moment and not think too much about the near future. This is going to be a long post. So many wonderful things happened during this time.
I love the winter here because it will be freezing outside, yet look like it could be summer with the bright sun and clear blue skies.
I met up with a friend in Gangnam where we explored the H Village Christmas decor near COEX. There was a giant Christmas tree, a small house, and other trees in the area. It felt extra Christmas-y with the Christmas music they had blasting.
We went to get dinner at a nearby restaurant where we had a fancy version of seafood kalguksu (long noodles in a broth). We ate the seafood first with some delicious side dishes and then put the noodles in the broth after.
We walked to Knotted Donuts that was in the vicinity. There were so many donuts to pick from, but we chose the carrot cake; no regrets. It is the best carrot cake that I’ve had in Korea, if you have the chance you should go try it.
Before I had to catch my bus back to my house, we briefly stopped at COEX to check out the Hellbound exhibition that Netflix had set up to promote it. It is a Korean TV show that has recently been in the top shows on Netflix.
We also went inside the mall to see the Christmas decor at Starfield Library. They did really well with the decorations this year. It was a pleasant surprise to see an orchestra and a singer there performing a lot of the popular Christmas songs.
One weekend, I walked around Myeongdong for a short time to see the Christmas lights. Myeongdong used to be very crowded with tourists, but now it has been quite shut down. It was nice to see to become more alive with the people there to see the decorations.
I met up with a friend that I haven’t seen in a while, so that was a treat. We had dinner and then went to Colline Cafe in Hongdae. Colline currently has a Christmas tree and the pink muhly grass. Plus, the drinks and cheese scone were delicious.
My friend’s girlfriend invited Lily and I over to her friend’s apartment. After work on a Friday, we met in Gangnam and then took a bus to Suwon. We bought groceries at the mart and then made tteokbokki for dinner. Even though we weren’t sure about the recipe, it turned out to be a success. After, we made some microwave cookies that got slightly burned in microwave but still tasted good. We stayed up late and finally went to bed. The next morning we ordered jjimdak (chicken in a yummy thick sauce with cheese). It started snowing outside, so we turned on the projector and watched Santa Clause. After it finished, we went back to Seoul, ate a quick dinner, and attended my friend’s comedy standup show. The comedy show was a total success, everyone was hilarious.
The next day, Lily and I took several buses to get to Siheung Premium Outlets. Siheung is located near Incheon, so about an hour away from Seoul. I had seen online that there was a Christmas market being held, so we wanted to see it. Before looking, we ate a set dimsum lunch at Baochai. It was absolutely amazing. The market was filled with handmade tea, candles, Christmas trinkets, and snowglobes. I ended up buying some of the homemade ginger tea for Lily since I was her Secret Santa in the upcoming Christmas party with our friends.
We returned to Seoul and rode the metro to Hongdae, where there was another Christmas market going on. I had seen that there was going to be this market when I had gone to Hongdae the week before. Sadly, it turned out to be more of a promotion of huge Korean companies and their products than an actual Christmas market.
One of my friends discovered that The Nutcracker was showing in the coming weeks. Naturally, we booked tickets to see it. I was beyond excited to see it since it used to be a family tradition when I was younger to go see it. The performers did an amazing job and the show was over before I knew it.
Christmas Day came around, and I went to my friend’s house where the party was being hosted. The party was what made it feel like an actual Christmas for me. Before, it didn’t really feel like Christmas was already here. We made mulled wine, ate so much sugar, pretended Santa had come, exchanged gifts and tried to guess our Secret Santa, played A LOT of games, and even had a rap battle. A great way to conclude the Christmas season!
