Christmas Eve. We Need Connection More Than Red Gift Boxes
Clumsy Love Hidden Behind the Name of Family and the Comfort of diptok
Merry Christmas to my diptok fam! 🎄✨
Is everyone having a warm Christmas Eve? Outside, carols are echoing through the air and the streets are lined with sparkling trees. It feels a bit bittersweet that 2025 is already coming to an end, but I suppose it's that very touch of sadness that makes Christmas feel even more romantic, right? Yet, on a day this romantic and dazzling, a corner of the heart can sometimes feel a little lonely. How about you this year? For me, in contrast to the brilliant scenery outside, I feel like my inner temperature is running a bit low.
Today, I want to talk about the conversations we have while sitting around with the family we love, and the 'essence of love' we are truly searching for within those moments. Before we dive in, here is another recent post on empathy I'd like to share!
The Most Distant Conversations with the Closest People
On Christmas Eve dinner, the whole family gathers for the first time in a while. We eat a delicious meal and blow out the candles on the cake, but the conversations we share are often more mundane or clumsier than we expect.
"How’s work lately?" "Any plans for marriage?" "Have you saved up some money?"
These questions, thrown out in the name of "worry," don't actually reach the deep parts of our hearts. We love each other so, so much, but we often feel too shy to ask the questions that matter: "How is your heart today?" or "What was the hardest thing for you this year?" Because we are so close, we are more cautious, and we fear showing our raw, unpolished selves.
Love is Reading Hearts, Not a Grand Event
We often believe that love must be proven by exchanging grand gifts on Christmas. However, I believe true love is the act of reading the other person's heart. It is the most "affordable" yet most precious thing we can do.
It’s the fatigue felt without them saying a word, the weariness hidden behind a smile, and the sincerity embedded in a briefly tossed comment. Isn't the short moment of carefully reading those "textures" (결) of the heart a greater form of love than a hundred pieces of advice? When this kind of authentic connection happens, our lives finally begin to soften.
Why I Open diptok on Christmas Eve Night
Ironically, last Christmas, after spending a joyful time with my family, I lay in bed before sleeping, repeatedly opening and closing Instagram and KakaoTalk before finally turning on a random chat. Why? I was going through a really tough time back then, and I think I just wanted to pour out my 'true self' of the year—something I couldn't quite tell even my family.
In front of my family, I had to be the "reliable daughter," the "successful sibling," or the "child who doesn't cause worry." But in the anonymous space of a random chat, I could simply exist as 'the lonely me' or 'the me who needs someone's comfort.' Just like the reason diptok exists, the lack of a name allows for conversation without the prejudice of background, and the lack of a face allows us to convey sincerity through text without hiding behind facial expressions.
Perhaps a short conversation with a "stranger-friend" on Christmas Eve will be the unexpected gift that unravels the emotional knots you've kept tucked away all year.
I Hope Your Night is Warm
It doesn't matter if you are with loved ones or spending this night quietly alone. What matters is how honest you were to yourself today, and whether even just one person listened to your sincerity.
If there are words of love you haven't told your family, try saying them before today ends, even if it's awkward. And if you don't have a place to send those words, you can always stop by the random chat app diptok. Anonymous friends who will quietly listen to your story will be waiting here.
Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you have kinder dreams tonight. 💜