C's first birthday was in October and it was such a day for celebration! More obviously for A and I, as we had been waiting for these special celebrations to happen for our family for a while, but for C also, as he had so many people that loved him come to celebrate with us.We had C's party on a sunday at our house. We had lunch and about 25 people at our home- luckily the weather was great so we were able to spend a ton of time outside. Around 12, our families arrived so that we could do a little traditional Korean celebration with C. In Korea, the child's 1st birthday is very important and it is a HUGE celebration called the Tol or Dol (I don't know which is officially the right spelling- I've seen it spelled both ways MANY, MANY times). During the Tol there is a special table that is set up called the Toljabee:
it has many items on it that represent the "future" for the Korean child; items such as thread for longevity, rice cakes for wealth, a sword for being a warrior, etc. Anyhow, during the Tol, the birthday boy (or girl) gets to choose things off the table- traditionally I believe it is one item- we let C pick three! I tried to get as many items o
n the table as possible that represented a true Toljabee; we also added a baseball to represent our culture and Allen's, papa's, and my favorite sport of all time! Guess what item C picked off the table first??? The baseball! Then C picked the thread and finally the rice cakes (which were supposed to be traditional korean rice cakes- I subsituted rice crispy treats though because I just didn't have time to make traditional rice cakes!) So, as far as we can tell, C is going to be a baseball player that is rich and lives a long time! HAHA! Of course, during the cour
se of this tradition C was in his Hanbok again; again, he hated it and was very mad at us for making him take pictures with everyone... I swear I have one of the happiest, most talkative, best smiling kids in the universe but when the camera is pointed at him, he wants nothing more than to prove the above statment wrong!
Anyhow, around 1 pm all of our closest friends (except Jackie & Kevin as they were whoppin' it up in Hawaii
that weekend- oh the jealousy ;-) ) came over to enjoy some homemade crockpot Bulgogi, which is, basically, steak bbq'd Korean style, and then of course some good old American hot dogs, chips and eventually cake & ice cream. Later everyone watched C (or rather Winnie Mae and Jord
an) open his gifts and then laugh at him when he cried at his cake in front of him! Haha! He hated that cake that day- now, of course, he loves cake but not that day! C got lots of gifts that he absoltuly loves playing with- the loudest one he got was a "mini" drum set that my sister got for him. The amazing part is that C actually looks
like he already knows how to play the drums... oh, what waits for our ears in the future???
it has many items on it that represent the "future" for the Korean child; items such as thread for longevity, rice cakes for wealth, a sword for being a warrior, etc. Anyhow, during the Tol, the birthday boy (or girl) gets to choose things off the table- traditionally I believe it is one item- we let C pick three! I tried to get as many items o
n the table as possible that represented a true Toljabee; we also added a baseball to represent our culture and Allen's, papa's, and my favorite sport of all time! Guess what item C picked off the table first??? The baseball! Then C picked the thread and finally the rice cakes (which were supposed to be traditional korean rice cakes- I subsituted rice crispy treats though because I just didn't have time to make traditional rice cakes!) So, as far as we can tell, C is going to be a baseball player that is rich and lives a long time! HAHA! Of course, during the cour
se of this tradition C was in his Hanbok again; again, he hated it and was very mad at us for making him take pictures with everyone... I swear I have one of the happiest, most talkative, best smiling kids in the universe but when the camera is pointed at him, he wants nothing more than to prove the above statment wrong!Anyhow, around 1 pm all of our closest friends (except Jackie & Kevin as they were whoppin' it up in Hawaii
that weekend- oh the jealousy ;-) ) came over to enjoy some homemade crockpot Bulgogi, which is, basically, steak bbq'd Korean style, and then of course some good old American hot dogs, chips and eventually cake & ice cream. Later everyone watched C (or rather Winnie Mae and Jord
an) open his gifts and then laugh at him when he cried at his cake in front of him! Haha! He hated that cake that day- now, of course, he loves cake but not that day! C got lots of gifts that he absoltuly loves playing with- the loudest one he got was a "mini" drum set that my sister got for him. The amazing part is that C actually looks like he already knows how to play the drums... oh, what waits for our ears in the future???The party wasn't anything spectacular, bu
t it was wonderful to be able to chat with everyone and get to watch Chave fun with some of our friends children. We are completely blessed to have some of the best people in the world as our friends... they helped me wait for C telling me that God's timing was always perfect... their honest excitement for us to become parents was touching and their children clearly learn from them as they love C to death as well. Belinda & Jon, Kristy & Jimmy, Maria & Joe- your kids are wonderful with C. They play with him and watch him and give him the best attention! Jon Jon, Jamison, Jayden, Shae, Jordan, Winnie Mae, and Nolan thank you for being awesome little kids!!! Sophie and Corbin- I look forward to watching C grow up with you as friends in church and outside of church- I couldn't ask for God to put anyone more special in our lives...
t it was wonderful to be able to chat with everyone and get to watch Chave fun with some of our friends children. We are completely blessed to have some of the best people in the world as our friends... they helped me wait for C telling me that God's timing was always perfect... their honest excitement for us to become parents was touching and their children clearly learn from them as they love C to death as well. Belinda & Jon, Kristy & Jimmy, Maria & Joe- your kids are wonderful with C. They play with him and watch him and give him the best attention! Jon Jon, Jamison, Jayden, Shae, Jordan, Winnie Mae, and Nolan thank you for being awesome little kids!!! Sophie and Corbin- I look forward to watching C grow up with you as friends in church and outside of church- I couldn't ask for God to put anyone more special in our lives... On Mond
ay Calen spent time with just A and I in the evening. We had one more special gift for him, an adoption book created by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth Chapman, called Shoey & Dot: Bug Meets Bundle. The book was a tribute to adoption by the Chapman's because they adopted 3 beautiful girls from China and they wanted to make a story for their girls. It is an adorable book and we just adore the Chapman family... so it fit the day well.
ay Calen spent time with just A and I in the evening. We had one more special gift for him, an adoption book created by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth Chapman, called Shoey & Dot: Bug Meets Bundle. The book was a tribute to adoption by the Chapman's because they adopted 3 beautiful girls from China and they wanted to make a story for their girls. It is an adorable book and we just adore the Chapman family... so it fit the day well.All in all, C's 1st birthday was wonderful! We cherished every second of it an
d got a ton of pictures to capture the special occasion! C- we love you so much and can't even begin to imagine our lives without you! Happy Birthday again "booger"!
d got a ton of pictures to capture the special occasion! C- we love you so much and can't even begin to imagine our lives without you! Happy Birthday again "booger"!Hope that y'all enjoyed the pics!
-M
PS- All of the links in here take you to pages with more information on what I was talking about...
2 comments:
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What an awesome bday celebration! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the drum set! Where in the world did she find that? Neat bday tradition, too. Thanks for sharing!
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