Celebrating Seollal - Korean New Year

Happy New Year = Sae hae bok mani badeuseyo = (새해 복 많이 받으세요)!

Seollal is the first day of the Korean lunar calendar, which marks the most important Korean holiday of the year.  Today we welcome the Year of the Dragon, which is said to bring 'Hope and Courage', very appropriate for our family as we look forward to bringing Baby Girl home later in the year.  Zander continues to wait patiently (and maintain his flexibility):

We hope that Baby Girl and her foster family had a wonderful Seollal celebration!  They may have worn traditional Korean dress (hanbok) to celebrate.  Their day likely began by honoring and remembering elders.  Children perform a 'big bow', which is typically rewarded with a red envelope (Sae Bae Don) containing a monetary gift.  The morning of Seollal, Koreans traditionally eat a bowl of a rice soup (Ttok-kuk, meaning 'adding age') - upon finishing the soup, you are said to be a year older.  Families celebrate Seollal with many other traditional foods as well.

Zander continues to enjoy eating different Korean and Asian foods.  Here he reveals his favorite food (a surprise to Mommy) and demonstrates his developing ability to use his Pororo (Korean cartoon character) beginner chopsticks:

In celebration of Seollal, we took some time to reflect on the Korean zodiac (based on Chinese zodiac) make up of our family:

     Baby Girl - Year of the Tiger
     Zander - Year of the Ox
     Mommy - Year of the Rat
     Daddy - Year of the Pig
We can't wait to experience the full mix of personalities when our family becomes complete in the coming months!