Christmas Is Upon Us

HI Everyone

The weather is cold and this month it's already snowed twice. We don't think this will be a white Christmas as much as it will be a cold one. Nevertheless, the spirit of Christmas lies in birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ!

Unlike last year, we'll be spending Christmas as a family of three here in Seoul. This will be Ian's first Christmas! The other day he had his picture taken with the USO Santa in the Post-Exchange (PX). Santa asked us if he could keep Ian for a year, he just loved him. He also asked us what Ian wanted for Christmas, "Diapers"!

Last night was the Annual J3 Christmas party at the Dragon Hill Lodge and our first real date night since Ian's birth. Our friend's Blanca and Carlos were so kind and watched Ian for us. We dropped him off at 6pm and headed to the party, it was great to have a child free night and we
felt no guilt. The food and fellowship was great and this year we actually won something in the raffle, a 50,000 won ( approxiamately $50) gift certificate to Geckos (Italian) out in Itaewon. Juan's boss, recommended that we go for Sunday Brunch. Juan was so excited especially after 3 years of not winning anything at the USS Cowpens Christmas Party. We almost won the big prize of the evening but we were off by one number. We left at 10pm to pick Ian up and he was wide
awake loving the interaction with Carlitos, Blanca and Carlos's son. Ian loves people.

As for the New Year, we are all going to Beijing on a USO Sponsored Tour. We'll be flying out on the 30th and returning to Seoul on the 2nd. We're pretty excited since it's a place that we wanted to go while we were stationed in Japan, but never had the time to do it. So now it's our time and we're taking Ian with us. It will be Ian's first trip and we are looking forward to it. We suspect that it will be cold, so we'll be going well dressed for the weather. The fortunate thing is that Beijing and Seoul's climates are relatively the same, therefore, we just need to dress for one temperature.

While in Beijing, we anticipate visiting the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Temple of the Sun, the Olympic Park, Summer Palace, etc. We've had various friends who have already gone and have told us of their experiences. We've taken them to heart and are eager to experience the city for ourselves.

Merry Christmas,
Juan, Rachel, & Ian