Hi javabeans and girlfriday!

Thanks for putting yourselves in a pickle for us, but I can and will stoically go through withdrawal at least for a week,... no... make that a couple of days... rather than have you over-salted and vinegar-ed during the holidays.

It's true though, even when families get-together, we still end up spending hours apart doing our own thing. But at least we'll be within seeing distance from each other :) . Have a break, do. Enjoy your families while you can, things never stay the same forever (as life and dramas show us). I wish you good health, a Good Christmas and a year full of great dramas and events to look forward to. :D

I wish you both a happy holiday. For me, I had Korean BBQ in Shoreline with some of my K-drama watching buddies, who are such a wonderful addition to my life and that are all thanks to the meet up you had at tha Ballard library, and it was festive, fun, and relaxing. There was bulgogi, soju and none-stop talk of k-dramas. Now that is the way to kick off the holidays. Merry Merry!

awww, jb/gf, I'm sorry about the pickle! You really do have so many things on your plate...anyway, here's wishing you guys and everyone who celebrates, a Merry Christmas and a good time!

PS: Looking at those caps reminds me, it's almost two years ago that Flower Boy Next Door started airing! I did love that drama...and it's nice to have another Park Shin-hye drama to love now (Pinocchio)

Yoon Shi Yoon...... I miss him T.T

Aw, it's Enrique. I miss him.

Merry Christmas!

My Christmas plans,tell everyone, oh no,I can't make it, switch off my phone and enjoy the solitude. "
I may be allergic to people , phonys mostly.
I may decide to go shopping coz on D-day coz the sales prices will be low or I will wait till January where everyone is broke, so I can haggle over prices Muahaha.

Christmas in Seoul? I arrive on Boxing Day and will be hanging around Daehangno/Hyehwa. Let's meet up for drinks!!!

However you celebrate the season, Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to everyone!!

Happy Holidays to woori Dynamic Duo....
Thank you very kamsa for all your hardwork for this past year( and ALL the years before).
I will have a special Chrismas this year . I will not be with my Husband nor my kids since I will be spending it with my Mom who is recovering in the hospital. Part of me is sad but I'm also thankful- my understanding and patient Husband who's covering me for work( in additional to his) and let me concentrate in attending my Mom's needs. My kids who showed maturity by letting me know they can take care of themselves( I hope ?).My Mom who is doing her best and tries to put up a brave look while recovering.
So, to all my Beanie chingu's, have a wonderful Holidays. Don't fret about crazy Christmas shopping, whether you have bought enough or not. I think your recipients of your gifts will like whatever you've given them....may it be new clothes, toys or what not ... all it matters it's from you, with love. Happy Holidays...be safe?

And yes, I'm suffering from MiSaeng withdrawal, too?

I can live without recaps around this holiday, because everyone deserves a break from their job and Dramabeans is definitely your job. I wouldn't want you to come to hate it!

About the giving and Christmas time, giving itself is really important so whether you do it just this time of year or you do it few times throughout the year, it's never a bad thing. People tend to think more about it at Christmas because they'll think about individuals or families who are not able to celebrate/enjoy it. Maybe they have no family, or maybe they have no money. In this country (US) it's easier to give money, but probably the more precious thing is giving time. I can tell you that when I give to someone, I'm not doing it because I want to feel good. It's because I want them to feel good. How sad that that gets mixed up with shame and guilt. That's not really the purpose or the point!

I'm in an interfaith marriage (he's Christian, I'm not), so we celebrate this weird Winter Holiday mash-up thing. ::laugh::

Plus, we have lots of family birthdays this week, so we just kind of roll with it. Cookies! Pie! Presents! Singing! :)

Happy Solstice (my holiday), Merry Christmas (his holiday), Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and other assorted holidays (we missed Buddha's birthday - wasn't that on the 8th of this month?) It's all good. :)

i've been wondering about the romantic connect to christmas in korea as well. Apparently it's the same case in Japan, where christmas eve is a festival almost exclusively for couples. In both places christmas seems to be celebrated like valentines day, while valentines day itself has got attached to more material aspects- such as gifting chocolates.

I guess one reason could be that new gen non-christians who wish to relate to western culture or ideas have found a non-religious way to incorporate the festival into their lives, and I'm sure the market with its eye on lucrative sales had a role to play in popularizing it as well.

However that still doesn't explain why the festival got linked to romance in particular. So I hunted around for answers and got one that may somewhat explain the situation in japan at least:

"It was since Yuuming’s [singer Matsuyoya Yumi] song ‘My Lover Is Santa Clause’ that Christmas Eve became a day to spend with your lover. People became richer, […], hotels, who had their eye on this, offered loads of Christmas plans. […]. It was the natural flow of things that Christmas Eve then became thought of as a day you spend with your lover.’（IDii24さん）"
and
"it seems that even Yuuming’s song, that is played at this time every year, can be said to have played an important part in creating the image of Christmas as a time you spend with your lover."

So a question for those more familiar with S.Korea- was this song popular in S.Korea as well? Could the japanese take on the festival have influenced S.Korea? I'm assuming here (correct me if I'm wrong) that Japan was introduced to christmas before Korea, since Wikipedia says that the oldest christmas celebrated there is recorded as being in the Meiji period, and that the custom of spending Christmas Eve with the opposite sex had already become common by the early Showa period.

i think an expat living in japan said christmas is celebrated by going out to eat fried chicken, or something weird like that...

for me, the xmas season brings on the guilt of whether or not to do osechi ryori (traditional japanese new year food) on jan 1st. 2-3 days of cooking/prep, fighting the crowd at the local asian market and seafood market...

while it's fun to have family and friends over all day for the japanese eatfest, i'm usually so exhausted that i just sit and drink sake while they eat....

First, Merry and Happy everything to JB and GF - you have helped me make sense of my 2014 acquired obsession with Drama. I hope you are, and continue to be, doing work you love - and get well-compensated for it.

Second - same to all the beanies who contribute comments and observations that add to my understanding and enjoyment.

I'm an american Buddhist, so no escaping Christmas but it works for me as a family/friends appreciation holiday season.

I got a present this morning when my good friend who visited me this weekend and watched a Drama called on her way to work to yell at me that she was up until 1.30am to watch more episodes and it's my fault. I'm so happy.

To me, Christmas eve means, pizza and watching "DIE HARD".
It's not Christmas untill i see Bruce Willis shove Alan Rickman off a tall building... I admit, i'm a grinch.
The next day however i spend my day cooking for my mom,5 sisters and assorted inlaws and kiddies and cat's..stuffing them all like a Turkey.
They can't move from all the food? mission succesfull :)

So merry Christmas al you stuffers and stuffed ones :)