Whew, what Korean Krazyness this weekend. My husband has a very large family whose Korean tradition it is to gather on New Years day. We dress in traditional Korean hanbok, bow to elders, receive and give gifts of money, and eat a beef broth soup with meat dumplings and white rice cakes to symbolize a “clean new year.” With a home filled with so many people ranging in age from 13 months to 82 years, huge steamer pots on the stove filled with 300 dumplings made by halmony (grandmother, and many toddlers running under-foot, things get confusing and fun.

To top it off, my BIL is getting married this weekend and chose to have his Paebaek ceremony the same day. This means more elaborate traditional Korean wedding hanbok, a traditional table set with food symbolizing good luck, fertility, and infidelity, more bowing, and gift giving.

How lucky we are to have so many family members close by (50+) and traditions that have been celebrated for hundreds of generations. I am happy that my in-laws choose to keep these New Year practices alive and that my children and I are able to partake!

Seh-heh bokmahnee bahdeuhsaeyo! May you have good fortune in the new year.