Monday, December 7, 2009

It's Beginning To Look About As Much Like Christmas As It's Going To Look

Back in the States, Santa Claus and his Elves start to come out of hiding a bit before Halloween, and Christmas accoutrement have taken over the public square completely by the day after Thanksgiving.

Christmas Day is a legal holiday in Korea, but without most of the fanfare that proceeds it at home. Some stores will put up a small tree or a wreath, but some will not. Cakes are a big part of the Korean Christmas, so it makes sense bakeries have a little more elaborate window-dressing (Tous les Jours in my building):


My E-Mart has put up its Christmas decorations, consisting of lights strung through the trees:


... ceiling hangers, spaced throughout the store, with this year's theme:


... occasional small-scale displays to remind sharp-eyed shoppers of the season:




... and the obligatory gingerbread house scene in the bakery dept:


There is a small selection of live trees and decorations in the floral dept:


But most of the gewgaws are pretty similar to the standard ones you'll find in America, except for the 290,000 W tree (about USD 250) on the left, which has a little pump and spinner to create a snowfall of styro pellets over the tree. A collector umbrella underneath funnels the pellets back to the pump. It was out of order when I visited today, not a hopeful sign.




From now until next Tuesday we have final exams at school. I have to show up for about 2 1/2 hours. That is followed by about two more weeks of classes, for some reason. I'm going to show How the Grinch Stole Christmas one week, then do a lesson on New Year's resolutions.

At Daiso--the five-and-dime store--I bought this little thing for 1,000 W and hung it as a wreath on my apartment door. Cute.

4 comments:

The Sanity Inspector said...

Merry early Christmas.

Tuttle said...

Thank you! Right back at you, TSI!

Tucker said...

Not sure where I got General Lee, thanks Tuttle - tucker

Andrew Lasher said...

I should have bought my tree at emart. I ordered it online Saturday and it still hasn't come yet! What kind of shipping is that? Pfft.

Anyway, I love the slogan 'Home Sweet Party' it really just about sums everything up.