Dahin woke up before the crack of dawn and waited patiently until my standard 6 am pee break to make me get up. She promptly got her brothers up and they waited for me to drag my tired self to the living room for the present opening session. Jack was way more difficult to get up, but we eventually got him up with the lure of some Peet's holiday blend coffee (courtesy of a friend who brought us some for the holidays). The kids were so sweet about their presents. Dahin did not get the Nintendo DS she has been wanting for two years now. Probably because it is expensive, and also probably because Santa could not envision Dahin with her head in a computer game non-stop. She was such a good sport about it all and showed excitement at even the smallest gift: "Ooooh, a pencil case--I need one of those;" "Wow--a calculator--awesome!" One can call these lame, but knowing how well Dahin received these gifts despite her desire for a computerized toy really shows how sweet a kid she is. She did get a rubik's cube, jenga, and a toy puppy--two things she had been really wanting, so not all the gifts were 'practical.' The boys loved their gifts, too. One of the big hits was the battery-operated bullet train made to look like the KTX that runs from Seoul to Pusan. The set is actually huge, with bridges and tunnels, but we set up a miniture version so the boys could run the train.
After a pancake breakfast and SKYPE sessions, Jack went to pick up the turkey dinner we had ordered from Dragon Hill Lodge on the US military base. We cannot enter the base since we are not military, but during the holidays the deli at the Lodge makes a holiday feast available to the general public. It felt like a secret mission: 'At noon, meet us at gate 17 near Ichon subway station go pick up your meal.' There were absolutely no problems with picking up the meal and Jack made it home in record time since there was not a lot of traffic out yet. It included a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, mixed veggies, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce (really good), and a pumpkin pie (delish!). So glad my mom had mentioned to check it for a thorough cooking. Sure enough, it was a bit pink. So, Jack, his friend Juseok, and I cut the bird up and cooked it in bits in the convection oven while we waited for the other two guests to arrive (see the slice and roast operation below). About 40 minutes extra cooking did the trick. The rest of the food was very good. Well...except the gravy, which was very bland (next time, I'll just make milk gravy). It all stayed very hot, but I removed portions of the sides from the aluminum pans in order to heat them up in the microwave at regular intervals. The pans were too big to keep on the table anyway, so one I put the sides in smaller dishes there was more room on the table. The day before, we had checked with some of Jack's friends to see if they would like to come over for a holiday lunch. They said yes, and glad they did since this was a lot of food. The deli rep said it would feed about 10 people, but I think it could feed more. I have days of leftovers ahead, but happy about it. I tell you what, it was so, so good to have this food. Felt like a taste of home, so am very grateful we can purchase the holiday feast at Christmas time. Having a gathering at our home with this amazing feast really helped it feel like Christmas.
Dahin woke up before the crack of dawn and waited patiently until my standard 6 am pee break to make me get up. She promptly got her brothers up and they waited for me to drag my tired self to the living room for the present opening session. Jack was way more difficult to get up, but we eventually got him up with the lure of some Peet's holiday blend coffee (courtesy of a friend who brought us some for the holidays). The kids were so sweet about their presents. Dahin did not get the Nintendo DS she has been wanting for two years now. Probably because it is expensive, and also probably because Santa could not envision Dahin with her head in a computer game non-stop. She was such a good sport about it all and showed excitement at even the smallest gift: "Ooooh, a pencil case--I need one of those;" "Wow--a calculator--awesome!" One can call these lame, but knowing how well Dahin received these gifts despite her desire for a computerized toy really shows how sweet a kid she is. She did get a rubik's cube, jenga, and a toy puppy--two things she had been really wanting, so not all the gifts were 'practical.' The boys loved their gifts, too. One of the big hits was the battery-operated bullet train made to look like the KTX that runs from Seoul to Pusan. The set is actually huge, with bridges and tunnels, but we set up a miniture version so the boys could run the train.
After a pancake breakfast and SKYPE sessions, Jack went to pick up the turkey dinner we had ordered from Dragon Hill Lodge on the US military base. We cannot enter the base since we are not military, but during the holidays the deli at the Lodge makes a holiday feast available to the general public. It felt like a secret mission: 'At noon, meet us at gate 17 near Ichon subway station go pick up your meal.' There were absolutely no problems with picking up the meal and Jack made it home in record time since there was not a lot of traffic out yet. It included a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, mixed veggies, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce (really good), and a pumpkin pie (delish!). So glad my mom had mentioned to check it for a thorough cooking. Sure enough, it was a bit pink. So, Jack, his friend Juseok, and I cut the bird up and cooked it in bits in the convection oven while we waited for the other two guests to arrive (see the slice and roast operation below). About 40 minutes extra cooking did the trick. The rest of the food was very good. Well...except the gravy, which was very bland (next time, I'll just make milk gravy). It all stayed very hot, but I removed portions of the sides from the aluminum pans in order to heat them up in the microwave at regular intervals. The pans were too big to keep on the table anyway, so one I put the sides in smaller dishes there was more room on the table. The day before, we had checked with some of Jack's friends to see if they would like to come over for a holiday lunch. They said yes, and glad they did since this was a lot of food. The deli rep said it would feed about 10 people, but I think it could feed more. I have days of leftovers ahead, but happy about it. I tell you what, it was so, so good to have this food. Felt like a taste of home, so am very grateful we can purchase the holiday feast at Christmas time. Having a gathering at our home with this amazing feast really helped it feel like Christmas.
I must say that the pumpkin pie was the most anticipated part of the meal for me. I love pumpkin pie, but am very picky about texture and taste. While not as good as my pies, it was still pretty dang good. I heated it up in our convection oven and topped it with vanilla ice cream. We had this for dessert with some coffee. So, so good.
Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends. We really, really miss you all. Have a fabulous holiday!
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