merry christmas to all ... !

apologies for the minor hiatus, things have been in a holiday whirlwind around here.

mark's mom, klara, safely arrived in korea last night, and had a suitcase (or two) full of christmas presents in tow. we can lovingly refer to her as korean santa, as well. we are very excited that she's here to help us celebrate the holidays.

tonight, in celebration of christmas eve, we had reservations after work at one of our favourite duck barbecue restaurant. after a delicious dinner, we headed home for gift exchange and cake eating - as per korean christmas tradition. a huge thank you to EVERYONE who sent gifts to us, we are lucky to have such generous and thoughtful friends and family members! mark and i were royally spoiled this season. not that i mind, of course. i am very happy that santa was able to find us all the way in korea, and i now i am equipped with new clothes, pajamas, and socks, canadian olympic gear, much-needed toiletries, a plethora of december-issue magazines, and groceries! oh poptarts and instant oatmeal how i've missed thee. a special thank you not only to mom/santa (love!), but to jenn g, paige, nicole, cindy, natalie, and bouche for the surprise package - i love and miss you girls!

we spent the rest of the evening packing and preparing for the second half of our destination christmas: tomorrow morning we are off to tokyo - merry japanese christmas to us! and merry regular christmas to you!

love, alex & mark xoxo