Did You Celebrate Leif Erikson Day?! Why Not!?

So I had Christmas. Yup. I did Christmas. It’s strange. I thought I would be more upset at not having the week long holiday leading up to Christmas and the subsequent weeks (months more like it for teachers) of holiday. But I’m not. For me Christmas is a huge deal. It’s about family, giving and reflecting on the year gone by. For me my Christmasi (plural for Christmas?)  have followed a fairly regular pattern and this is the first time in maybe 8 or 9 years I’ve done something completely different and I don’t mean changing the main meat from a chicken to a turkey. I’m thousands of kilometers away from my usual place of Christmasing, in a different hemisphere, in a different country.
When I asked the guys at work about their last Christmas here they told me it was pretty much a non event. I wasn’t going to have that, not on my watch. So I took it apon myself to organise and cook a traditional as possible Christmas meal. If anything for a fleeting taste of home.
With 10 guests it proved to be a real challenge – which I enjoy. I had to Koreanise a few of the staples (why is there no custard powder here?)  But it all worked out pretty well. Especially considering Christmas dinners rely heavily on ovens and we had a distinct lack of oven space – we did have one small on. So everyone please after this retire to your kitchens and take a moment to thank that huge piece of metal and glass the produces oh so tasty roast meats.
In short the meal went really well, in fact too well considering I set up an indoor charcoal fire.
But what was strange to me was the surrounding days of Christmas.
I worked both Christmas Eve and Boxing day. I was luckily enough to be given Christmas day off as everyone else here worked Christmas day, and last year everyone at my work worked on Christmas day!
My usual Christmas and lead up to Christmas involved constant advertising, songs and reminders. This was all replaced with… well…. Just regular life. Most of Korea just kept going. People still worked. It was just a regular day. At first I admit I was a bit miffed. But then I asked myself what was I doing last Chuseok (Korean thanksgiving)? You know what I was doing? Nothing. Well… Just my regular life. I just kept going. It was just a regular day. And that’s when it all hit me.
If I’ve learnt anything it’s the importance of certain holidays and the meanings they have for me. I also hope that it the future I’m more sympathetic/empathetic to others and their holidays that have meaning to them.
And truly, deeply, sincerely for once – as I now sit on a bullet train hurtling across South Korea – I miss the boxing day test cricket match.