Dear Santa...

***note to self: please click on the white boxes if the images are not coming up!




This year my demands are simple, they are not complex like the ride in your sleigh I asked for year after year, instead, this year I want a ride in your Ford F150...I want an iced coffee to go along with it please.

This year I want some comfy pajamas, not the set I received once with a giant cartoon character down the front that my sister lived in for years, instead, I want a nightgown with Jem and the Rockers identical to the one I had as a child, only in my current size please.


I am not asking for a car this year, however, a jet or small to mid sized plane will do. The tempo kicked the bucket and isn't a floatation device and therefor will not make it across the Atlantic.

This year I will not make crazy demands for things like Foosball tables and treadmills as I have "supposedly" done in the past, instead, I would like all of you to come here...seriously.

This year I do not want barbies, dolls, My Pet Monster or a single Carebear, I want only my fiancee back for Christmas.

I am returning the "Sweater Dress" outfit I once received with a Green, white and purple cow strewn across the front, the "cow bell" strategically placed on the nipple, and I am instead requesting you send me the coat that Santa told Mrs. Clause was fugly..just for a good laugh.

I do not want jewelry only a final look at the silver shelled necklace that is "so me".

Instead of smoked Turkey I would like the Mrs. Clause, slow roasted option.

Instead of cougal with bow ties I would like cougal with egg noodles the way it should be.

Instead of Christmas in Korea....I would like Christmas at home.....
That is my wish for next year!

Convictions

And so it has been a while, a long while, since the last time I sat in front of this computer and felt compelled to write, to write about my days that seem to meld into one, my nights that are too short and now, the familiar feeling of missing Daniel that has once again found its way into my life. He will leave tomorrow for a two week trip to the Philippians and although the time will be well spent, I am hoping to fill my nights with writing and my days with staying at work and working, something I do not often enough, missing him is always hard, hard like missing home, and I dread it.

It is creeping into the New Year so fast, winter is here, fall is gone and one of the best years of my life is a mere breath away from being last year. This year I realized alot about me, I fell in love and I became more aware of the people around me and the qualities they posses that make me love, envy and respect them.

My father has just recently taught me the art of strength. Although I have always looked to him as a beacon of strength, only now do I realize how deep that strength is. To have two roads in lying in front of you and not only choose the one less traveled by, but the one which holds no map, has no direction and is left to be guided by you and you alone, to choose that one is an act of courage.

My mother has also shown me a kind of strength, the strength that shines through in times of trial, a strength that can only be found when doing something for the person you love most in life. When you are able to support someone through a decision, a decision that may affect your life, when you know it is the best decision for them, supporting them in itself is strength in its strongest form.

With Christmas coming I find myself missing home, missing the snow, my sister and my friends. I am both eager to go home and scared of the future. I am anxious to just get on with it and apprehensive about my role in the world. It will all fall into place as it always does, three years ago I would have never pictured myself here, in a small city in the south of Korea, sitting in my apartment wishing I wasn't sending my fiance off on a holiday, no, this would be the last place I would have put myself.