Korean New Year 2011 & AP Friends

In preparation for the Benefield's 2011 Korean New Year celebration, I just placed my first online order with HMart!  After our surprise package of Korean snacks, we now know that we need MORE!  They are so good.  We could probably find comparable foods at the local grocery store, but the ones with Korean writing are so much more fun! ;) 

Today, I ordered the things I needed to make New Year's Rice cake Soup (Thanks ML for the recipe) and Bul Kogi (Korean barbecue).  I'm so excited to attempt Korean cooking, but I'm almost positive that I'm going to screw it up.  Thank goodness no one who'll be eating it will know if it tastes right or not! ;)

If any of you have any yummy Korean or American recipes, please send them to me.  I'm always wanting something new to cook besides the stuff I fix every week.

Today started off sucky. I left my office post office keys at home in my jacket pocket. (Thanks DH for bringing them to me.)  Woke up with sinus crud, again, but what's new?!? Looked at old pictures and realized just how much weight I've gained.

BUT
Then, good news started popping up all over Facebook from my AP friends!  So many EP approvals, referrals, new pics, etc.  It just makes my day!

I was thinking yesterday about the months spent waiting prior to John McRae's coming home.  Every time I went in a store, I wanted to buy him something.  Before our travel call, I was afraid to purchase anything.  The first thing we bought him was from Little Seouls and it was a stuffed doll and a book.  For many months, that's all he had in our home.  Then, after EP submission, we started buying a little.  After EP approval, things got crazy.  The kid still doesn't touch half of the stuff, and some of it he never even needed.  If I knew then what I know now, I probably wouldn't even have bought a crib or done a nursery because it isn't like the kid uses either of the two!  He won't sleep any place but with me at night, and his nursery doesn't even have a crib anymore (It's in my bedroom) because we needed the extra space for toys that are played with in the living room!  You live, you learn. :)  It was so much fun buying for him before he came home, and it is still lots of fun...but the kid doesn't need anything and we have no room left to store anything else.  So now when I go into a store, I always think of that special time in our lives when we were preparing for our baby boy.  It's still hard not to pick up a $1 toy every time I run to the dollar store, but I've tried my best to refrain. 

So, my advice to those of you who are in that last minute prep mode, take time to enjoy yourself.  Don't stress over what you have or don't have.  Don't stress over attachment and bonding.  Don't stress over what you are going to wear.  Don't stress over gifts.  Don't stress about what he/she is going to wear.  Don't stress over if you have everything washed and ready today.  Don't stress if you didn't get the last minute projects done before your babe's arrival.  Don't stress over the what ifs.  It's all going to work out, because it is in God's hands and in His perfect time.  In these next few weeks, take the time to do something you enjoy, SLEEP, go on a date with your husband, take some time out for your kids or animals that you already have at home, go visit someone that you've been missing, take a weekend get-a-way, get a massage and a haircut, go shopping for YOU...you catch my drift.  Things might be rough the first little while home, but you will get through it and I can tell you from experience that none of that worrying is going to do anything but take away from the happiness and the excitement of the moment.  I'm so happy for all of my AP friends that are finally seeing movement in their processes.  The wait after JMc's EP approval was the very worst to me.  Please be assured that you will all be in my constant thoughts and prayers!  If any of you need anything, please let me know! Love you all!!! =)

Info on Korean New Year below.

Love,

Stacy

Korean New Year is the most important festival in Korea. It is a family oriented holiday. Korean New Year is also commonly known as Seollal. Korea follows a lunar calendar and for this reason, the dates of Korean New Year vary every year. Korean New Year 2010 was celebrated on February 14 while Korean New Year 2011 will be observed on February 3. Seollal 2011 will be observed on the first day of the lunar calendar. The New Year celebrations in Korea last for three days and the three days are declared as public holiday. Apart from the Korean Lunar New Year, they also celebrate International New Year with the rest of the world on January. However, the enthusiasm and grandeur with which they celebrate the traditional New Year is missing in the International New Year celebrations.

Seollal or Korean New Year 2011 will fall on the 2nd New Moon after winter cosmic time. If you follow the traditional, it is noticed that Korean New Year shares the same day of new Year in China, Vietnam, Mongol, and Tibet. As Chinese New Year, Korean New Year is also called Lunar New Year.



The first day of Korean New Year is known as Sol-nal. The first day of celebrations is restricted within the family. All the family members unite and gather for New Year dinner. During the Korean New Year eve, the Korean people keep rakes and straw scoopers at the entrance or on the wall. They believe that these articles will save their family from any evil force.



All the people in Korea wear colorful and new dresses on the New Years day. This symbolizes a new beginning. Everyone gather at his or her respective house to greet the eldest family member. In Korea, there is a popular tradition of ancestral memorial rites, where the young members in the family bow to the elderly members. The elders pray for the good health and opulence for the young members. The elders also present money to the younger members as a good luck charm.



Without food any celebration is incomplete and Korean new Year 2011 is not an exception. All the family members sit and join in for the New Year feast. The traditional New Year meal include ttokkuk, a must-have dish, which is made of rice cake. According to the Korean New Year traditions, this soup can add extra age to a human being's lifespan. In fact, the Korean new year is the time, when every Korean calculates his or her age and everyone become one year older on the new Year.



Koreans also play a number of traditional Korean New Year games on the eve of New Year. Some of the games are yut nori, stick game, and see-sawing. Yut nori is a very popular broad game, which the entire family can take part in. The male members of the family fly kites. They also play jegi chagi is another popular game for men in Korea. Jegi chagi is more like football. The female members of the family play neolttwigi, a traditional game of jumping on a seesaw. The kids play paengi.