Assorted Christmas memories and thoughts

First
Sorry about not doing a ‘going on vacation’ entry. My mom’s best friend emailed me to find out where her blog fix has been. Mea Culpa! We went to the in-laws in Staten Island for Christmas.

Disorientation
The strangest thing at my in-laws is Jrex's transformation from thoughtful, caring man to Korean son. As a Korean son he doesn’t do much to help out, he watches television in his bedroom, he waits to be served, and he doesn’t deal with the dog first thing in the morning (truly the cardinal sin!). Most of that is perfectly normal in Korean culture and I’m not upset about it, but I always forget to expect it. I'm instantly the lowest status person in the house and have to remember to be thoughtful and ready to anticipate other's needs.

Big Boss
I love my father-in-law. He’s an amazing man who has survived the Japanese occupation, fighting as a 17 year old against the communists, a PhD in herbal medicine in Oslo, being forced to work for the Korean government, starting over in a foreign country and owning a pharmacy in Brooklyn (the last perhaps being the most traumatic for him). But he’s so rough with our dog! I wrote about our first dog visit, this time was better, but still frustrating. His idea of saying hello to her was to tap her nose. Hard. But then he expected her to choose to be near him. I came up with the idea that “She knows you’re the Big Boss and she’s intimidated. Give her a chance to get used to you and she will like you.” He could accept that he was the Big Boss and even seemed pleased with the nickname. By the end of the weekend, she'd come when he called (ok, just once, but better than nothing) and he'd condescended to take her for a walk.

On the Boardwalk
We went to the Staten Island boardwalk for an afternoon stroll Christmas Eve. The boardwalk freaked out Muttola. She finally figured out a method of walking along the seam in the middle where the boards bounce the least. To give her a break from seam walking, I took her down to the water. As expected she attacked the audacious waves. For her first attempt she danced and barked, second she went mouth first up to her belly. Third time she dove in for a full body blow. Back in the parking lot, Muttola befriended a sweet old couple. The woman bent down to pet her, then threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed, “You’ve been swimming!? Mama Mia!”

Doing our duty
I love going to church Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I like the singing carols, seeing people I love, thanking God for all He’s done. Thinking about the wackiness of Him being a baby. However, if that all happens in Korean… There’s this thing in Korean culture that the one who prays the longest, or talks the longest about God is the most holy. And the church elder is certainly VERY holy. I asked Mom Kim later what the elder prayed. She could tell me the first part but then said that she got tired and stopped listening. I’ve never heard her say a direct negative about someone! She as much as said the guy was a pompas ass!

“No presents this year”
That’s what she told us. Don’t buy anything at all, please. Well that’s something to never believe from a Korean MIL. Jrex wanted to buy his Mom jewelry. We found a lovely gold necklace with a blown glass red heart. Simple and elegant. His parents are retired and his Mom has become consumed with church, so his Dad sits around the house all day. We bought him a bunch of DVDs (March of the Penguins, Winged Migration, Brooklyn Bridge by Ken Burns, and Best Of National Geographic). Jrex actually bought me jewelry for the first since the engagement ring. And he did a great job. He went to a funky local shop and found a really cool necklace and earring set. I’ll post a picture tomorrow. Mom and Dad bought us a 15-piece pot set. No, not THAT kind, the kind made from aluminum with Teflon coating. We love to cook, so that was perfect. She also bought us 400-count sheet set. I’ve splurged on some 300-count sheets that I love, but these are like silk. I’m so glad we didn’t listen to her at all!
Have I mentioned that my MIL has great taste? My sister covets the gifts my MIL gets me. Her in-laws tend toward buying comfy sweat suits. Mine, toward trendy clothes and cool jewelry. Or pots.

Overall it's been a relaxing weekend. We had great conversations on the drive up and the way back (and NO traffic either way. Truly a Christmas miracle!). Went to see Walk the Line last night. I like being married to him. It's definitely good to have a built-in best friend.