I LOVE FRIDAYS . . .

This has been an extra-long week, recovering from the snow-storm, enduring the driving rain and flooding, trying to plan for Christmas, trying to maximize hanging out with my friends before I and they separate to do our own holiday things ... Today's Friday is extra-welcome, so here's my Friday Five:

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays? Yes. Winter is only my third favorite season of the year, but around the holidays, I'd much rather be cold and bundled in a warm sweater and blankets, hanging out with my family and friends in a cozy home full of food and drink and laughter, than muddle through a bizarrely warm Christmas like we had a few years ago. And at the risk of appearing extremely trite, I'm a sucker for white Christmases. Only because we strangely have so few.

2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect? I much prefer low-key celebrations, whatever the occasion. For the holidays -- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's -- the highlights are always food, food and FOOD. Korean food whipped up by the miracle-making hands of my mom and gran; an assortment of cuisines and tidbits meticulously created by friends; mouth-watering pastries bought at a favorite bakery; crates and crates of fresh fruit received as gifts. Gather a bunch of little piggies around, throw in some beer or wine or coquitos, a few games or an it's-so-bad-it's good movie or a friendly gamble around yut-nori or hwat-do, and it's juuuuust perfect.

3. Do you do have any holiday traditions? Not so much for Christmas, but on New Year's Day, we get up early, perform the traditional low bow to Gran and to Mom and Dad (and get money!), eat dduk-guk, spend the day mixing and frying bin-dae-dduk, then spend the evening gambling on Korean games (if you'll recall, this is where Cheech and I lose massive amounts of cash to our unscrupulous elders). It's soooo fun and we gain an average of 7 lbs per person in the span of 24 hours.

4. Do you do anything to help the needy? Yes, but I don't do it just around the holidays. That's just plain silly.

5. What one gift would you like for yourself? A condo.