Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our holiday season was full-up as Eri, 5, and Leo, 2, were all about the festivities this year. We stayed in Seoul to celebrate Christmas and New Year's, both of which were a lot of fun. Here's the highlight reel:

The holiday season kicked-off with an Ugly Sweater Party,
for which we procured two matching sweater vests and
turtlenecks, and Griswold eggnog moose mugs.
Needless to say, Geoff and I jointly took home the competition's
 top prize (based on votes), as well as a lot of pride
(based on how smug we felt).

We celebrated Geoff's birthday with dinner out
 and a highly-anticipated chocolate cake.

Eri's two bffs from kindergarten and their moms came over for a cookie decorating party.
Unfortunately, none of the cookies lasted until Christmas Eve and Santa's plate
 had gingerbread men from the neighbors. 

Christopher the Elf made various appearances all around the house.
Eri and Leo loved looking for him every morning, except when they
found him frozen by Elsa in a block of ice, which Leo declared "not nice."

Eri had a week and a half off school and Geoff also had several vacation days.
They went skiing, ice skating, to the science museum
and then skiing four more times. Here they are with the Lauderdales.

 

For our monthly girls-only outing, Eri and I went to the Nutcracker.

She liked the characters, but was disappointed that there
was no dialogue and "just dancing" at the ballet.
She also wanted to know why we could see the male dancers' bottoms.

Eri and the Korean Nutcracker Prince.

Christmas morning!

Santa brought Leo a Minion doll, hat and DVDs.

True to her enduring and unwavering love of MJ and world geography,
Santa brought Eri a set of Michael Jackson dolls
and an electronic globe. She is already able to tell me which are
countries and which are capitals when I'm uncertain
(I think I missed that day in my international relations program).

Leo's favorite gift: the Baymax and Hiro
 action figures from his Nana and Booboo.

My favorite gift: My company gave all employees a leather-bound
day planner and varying gift cards, such as one extra lunch hour or a half-day off.
These were given out at random and the one I received is for an escort from work to home.
When I asked my co-workers to further translate this, it did not actually
help me understand with any more clarity.
I could choose anyone from the office to accompany me home one day to ensure
I get there safely. I have been doing this on my own for almost a year now,
so I may not redeem this.

Happy 2016 from the four of us!