Topic for December 20

[심향숙]

Hi Guys

There's Christmas and New year's Eve  just around corner.

I think all of you got over any  kinds of hardships  this year and hope you will have  time to enjoy 

the rest of 2014.

* Bring hot news that happened this week

*Main Questions*

1, At the end of 2014, Why don't we look back  this year? Was it not bad or couldn't be better?

 If you sort out your stories, what  was the most regrettable thing?

One more, What was the happiest moment this year?

2, Around this time of year, we often give some gifts to others and expect  them from close ones.

If you have a chance  to receive them, what do you want most?

Suppose we had 100,000 won, what would you like to buy for your partner?

You should think the most proper one for them and the reason

*향숙->정우->성훈->종희->국향->기숙->명순->미영->영희->향숙*

3, It's time to have parties for lots of reasons.

We are also planning to have party soon.

If you were a host to have a year-end party, who would you invite and what would you  prepare for the party?   Are there ways to make your party special? 

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What Christmas means to me

I stand to be corrected to say that Christmas is all about giving. This is because the long and short of this religious festival is embedded in the fact that Jesus Christ, the man who came on earth to die for our sins, is literally celebrating His birthday.

It also heightens an argument of a sort among believers as to whether He was actually born on that said date. Many claim some creme-de-la-creme have made us believe that Jesus' birth is around this time of December and that the actual date is different from the one the whole world has virtually accepted to be the day and season of Christ's birth.

I do not seek to draw conclusions on which party is wrong or right. That will only end us nowhere. The fact is, Jesus Christ's role as the Messiah is that He came "so that all may have life and have it abundantly." Does it not call for celebration? That we were all like lost sheep, completely isolated from the flock, dejected and despondent and Christ came to die for us.

To me, the date does not matter. It is rather what we make of the season anytime we celebrate it. It is a time to show love. A time to put individual aspirations and desires to satisfy just our own selves aside and attend to the needs of others ― just as Jesus did when He came to this earth.

It therefore becomes disheartening to realize that people do not want to show love during Christmas, even on Boxing Day (a day purposely designed for sharing gifts). We should not allow present circumstances to deter us from carrying out our God-ordained responsibilities.

We ought to show love to the less-privileged, economic situations notwithstanding. This is the time to let the street children, the parentless children and the poor and needy feel the love that have been missing in their lives all along.

This way, we would clear our minds of the notion that Christmas is not worth celebrating.

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2 years after death, woman gets Christmas wish for family

As Brenda Schmitz struggled with the ovarian cancer that would take her life in 2011, she prepared a gift that her family would not receive for years, the Des Moines Register said in a report.

"She was so selfless," her husband, David Schmitz, said in an interview Saturday. "She knew what I was going to go through, and the kids especially."

Brenda Schmitz had always found inspiring the "Star" 102.5 Christmas Wish program that a Des Moines radio station runs each year.

"About a week and half ago we got a letter in the mail," said Scott Allen, the brand manager at the station, KSTZ "Star" 102.5 FM. "We've been doing the Christmas Wish program for 20-plus years. We've never received a wish like this, ever."

The letter was from Schmitz, written over two years ago, one month before her death. She asked an anonymous friend to wait until David, who lives in Nevada, Ia., had found a new love to marry before delivering the letter to the station, which every year takes submissions of Christmas wishes and consults with local partners to grant some of them.

Dated Aug. 3, 2011, the letter lists three wishes:

"I have a wish for David and the boys and the woman and her family if she has kids also," she wrote. "I want them to know I love them very much and they always feel safe in a world of pain."

David and Brenda, who were married in 2007, had one son together, Max, now 4. Brenda brought one son from a previous relationship to the family, Carter, 21, and David brought two sons, Josh, 17, and Justin, 14.

Station officials told David on Thursday that they were granting a Christmas Wish for him. But he didn't know about Brenda's letter until he was in the studio and on the air _ hearing host Colleen Kelly read his wife's words.

"It's not surprising," he said. "We just know she's there and that she's part of what we're doing."

The first wish: For something that would pamper David's new partner (Jayne Abraham, to whom David proposed this past summer).

"She deserves it," Brenda wrote. "Being a step-mother to all those boys, and especially giving lil' Max a ‘mother's love' that only she can give. Make her smile and know her efforts are truly appreciated from me.

"Thank you — I love you — whoever you are."

David said Brenda told him before she died that she wanted him to move on and meet someone new.

She only had one request: "Just make sure they love Max and the boys as much as I do."

Abraham brings two children of her own to David's family, Madison, 15, and Sam, 13. A letter for Abraham was also in the envelope sent to the radio station.

"After she got done reading the letter from Brenda, she had the paper laying on her chest and she said, ‘I just love this woman. I wish I could have met her,' " David said.

Abraham said it was a "mom to mom" letter.

"I think what touched me the most about her letter is that she told me that she loved me too," she said. "That's what was so amazing. She didn't even know who I was going to be."

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When Leigh Young-ji and her husband got married and moved into their apartment, the amiable couple decided to get a dining table for eight, in order to invite guests and host dinners. Leigh recalls having hosted some 30 dinner parties over the past year.

"People usually think parties take place on special days, and that they require an immense amount of preparation, but in our case, it's really about serving home-cooked meals to people we truly like and care about."

At first it would take her a full day to prepare, but over the course of several dozen parties, Leigh now says she can drop by a nearby retailer after work and have everything ready ― from food, tableware, candles, music to a screen airing fashion shows ― in two hours.

Leigh is hosting two parties this month, one for her younger sister who is getting married, and another for her husband's business partner. Since it is the end of the year, she is planning on fancying up the menu a notch to prepare steak with Gluhwein, as well as a cream cheese frosted devil's food cake and Dom Perignon champagne.

  Full-scale private parties

But private parties don't only refer to dinner parties that accommodate a handful of guests. Although almost unheard of here, they can also be organized as full-blown parties with hundreds of guests.

Jun Kyoung-woo, with seven others, is planning a year-end party this month. Taking place at a studio in Hannam-dong, it is set to be full-scale, complete with a bar, DJ, performances and some 200 guests.

"The most dominant form of parties has been promotional events hosted by companies, but these are never really much fun. This is because people attending such parties are there to work," said Jun.

"Private parties, on the other hand, can be a lot more fun, but since they've been considered something upscale and costly, they haven't been widely enjoyed. However, I happened to go to a private party last year and had a great time. So I thought of hosting a similar sort of gathering this year."

So Jun got thinking and found several more people who were in for the idea. This was in October, and with many of the hosts working for the media, in the course of two months they were able to secure sponsorships from food and beverage companies. The hosts, Jun says, will assume as much work as they can ― including making drinks and snacks ― as the bottom line is to keep costs low. This is so that guests could come and have fun without having to pay an exorbitant fee, he said.

Party trend

Jung Ji-su, a noted party planner and president of Incheon Culture and Art College, says the party trend has shifted from corporate brand/product promotion parties to private parties.

"Due to the tight economy, the party industry hasn't exactly been thriving. Instead of fancy hotel venues, people are increasingly seeking their favorite restaurants, cafés or modest accommodation facilities as places to host parties and a growing number are also choosing to open up their homes," Jung said

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