Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

I sound weird and unnatural and tired. Phooey. Doesn't mean that I'm not sincere, though. If you're not in the mood to listen to my voice, a still version of Cheonggyecheon at Christmas:

Christmas is a national holiday in Korea as is Buddha's birthday in the spring, but like most capitalist societies it has become a holiday of avid consumerism more than anything else.
The Christmas decorations were up in the department stores in November. The decorations at Hyundai Dept. Store (Apkujung) :

A Christmas themed art display at Avenue L. (I only took photos of the B1 floor.)

Christmas photo-op setting at Ssamzie-gil.

Christmas tree at Seoul Plaza. (Homepage is going through reconstruction until Dec. 28th, 2009.)

Students taking pics in front of Youngpung Bookstore's Christmas display:

Not many Bûche de Noël to be seen, but most bakeries and patisseries sell many versions of Christmas cakes. A patissier friend of mine mentioned that they look far more better than they taste and advised me to go for "regular" cakes rather than the holiday ones. Pity, because they are so pretty. These are from Caffe Themselves:

Hope everyone has a happy holiday season. May there always be good fortune in your lives.