Kid's Column

Celebrating Christmas With the Choi Family of South Korea

Home for the holidays can be near and far. Wilmore has international people, families and missionaries, who call this city home. We love them while they are here and miss them when they are gone, whenever they are on their very meaningful missions.

This month we celebrate Christmas with an international family who has lived in Wilmore for five years. The Choi Family is from Seoul, South Korea. Paul and Elizabeth Choi have two children. Michael is eight years old and is in Mrs. Dargan's 3rd grade class at Wilmore Elementary. He plays the piano, likes football and last summer played t-ball at the City-County Park in Nicholasville. When Michael moved here he was only three. The change in cultures was different and the grammar structure totally different. Michael attended a Christian pre-school in Lexington at the Immanuel Baptist Church. Michael's little sister, Lydia, is three and attends the Wilmore Day Care. The Choi Family attends the Wilmore Free Methodist Church.

For this interview we spoke over the phone together. We talked about similar traditions of Christmas trees in the house, sending cards and midnight Christmas Eve worship with candle lights, drama and singing. In the Choi's homeland after their service, food is shared. Soup and rice and other traditional Korean foods are served. Instead of cookies, rice cakes are traditional. There are many kinds, made with rice flour and sweets of honey, sesame and sugar. After sharing thanks together, they then make groups and go to visit other church members to sing. Sometimes they wake up the host! The host will usually invite the singers in to share their hospitality and then donate food or money to give to the homeless, nursing homes and to the poor, all for the love of Jesus Christ.

Christmas is celebrated all over the world with many customs and traditions. Children's faces gleam, their eyes are full of delight, excitement and wonder in the twinkling lights.

Wilmore's Old Fashioned Musical Christmas is all day Saturday, December 5th. Enjoy the fun and share the spirit of Christmas with our community. After the tree lighting festivities at 5:00 p.m., stop by 330 East Main Street Art. Kids are welcome to make a GLITTER Christmas tree ornament with me!! During your stroll, please notice the lighted angels' name tags that line the streets in honor and memory of Wilmore's loved ones.

Happy Holidays!!

--Kim Deyer