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.