I was recently asked by Brian at Istanbulblogger - an Englishman in Istanbul, I'm very excited to say - how I would be celebrating Christmas. You know, it's been so long since I've spent Christmas in London that I don't even remember when to celebrate it! The reason being, there are no Christmas holidays over here, understandably. So, when you have children in school you can't just take them away for two weeks.
New Year's Night: Nisantasi, Istanbul
The New Year is celebrated in a very cosmopolitan manner in Turkey; people put up decorations, lights and trees and it doesn't seem all that different in appearance. Of course, the spirit isn't present nor are the aromas of mince pies and gingerbread in the air while you enjoy a tea break during late night shopping. I miss seeing Santa's house set up in the middle of the shopping centre where you don't mind waiting in line for an hour with the kids for a photo and a present.
I'm an only child and, with only one English parent who grew up overseas himself and a Turkish mother, Christmas was often a pretty quiet affair at home. However, a traditional dinner, our box of decorations in the attic and the hide-the-presents game (I swear I never could find them!) were things to look forward to without fail. And, guessing who of our family members scattered across the world would manage to turn up at the last minute was the exciting part of Christmas for me.
Here, life goes on as usual; work, school. I compromise by putting up a tiny tree and decorating it with the children a week before Christmas. We've fallen into the Turkish pattern of celebrating with turkey dinner and gifts on New Years' Day because you get the next day off, so you can drink your wine, have friends and family over and the kids can go to bed late. Perhaps, when the kids are older and independent I might start snatching a weeks' Christmas holiday back home for myself...
the moment i got to the mince pies and the decor in the attic , my childhood memories came flooding back,wow! figen my wife last year came to england and we had our first xmas together and it was her first experience of xmas day,at one minute past mid-night we sat there unwrapping the presents that we had put under the xmas tree,i bought a real one last year and the smell of pine was so nice.she was like a child on xmas morning and i guess i was too. anyway thanks for making me smile my wife read this and was happy ,this year it will be different but we will make the effort to make it feel like xmas in our own way. look forward to next read ...cu brian
ReplyDeleteThat's the good part - the chance to create your own version of xmas :)
ReplyDeleteGive my best to your wife - another Figen! I'm sure I'd love her!
First I have to get to Thankgsiving next week as an American expat! For the last four years my Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners have been nearly identical. I can't resist the Christmas tree or decorations because I don't want my children to miss out on something I enjoyed immensely as a child. I feel fortunate that I live in a country that at least celebrates the New Year so having a tree up, etc, is less ostentatious. I have to admit being lured by Starbucks' display of red+white that popped up just a week or so ago - it puts me in the mood for Christmas but also makes me sad because it seems so out of context!
ReplyDeleteI love the concept of American Thanksgiving - I'm not too clued up about its origins, but it's the food part that makes my mouth water!
ReplyDeletewell figen you took me back to last year hope its a good read http://www.istanbulblogger.com/2009/11/20/istanbul-she-wanted-a-christmas/ also I will create a link somewhere on the site to your blog.
ReplyDeletethanksgiving Rose tell us the background of it where does it come from , I could google it but it makes good reading .. brian
How nice to be asked! Thanksgiving is America's once a year way of saying sorry for plundering and ravaging native lands... oops, I mean to say it's how we gather as a family once a year to say thanks for everyone and everything in our lives. Usually centered around food and beverage, in our family it meant cozy drawn-out cooking a la my father, an early dinner, a nap (from the tryptophan in turkey) or walk afterwards, and generally just relaxing. Or if you'd rather consult Wikipedia for the offical explanation, here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving. Enjoy!
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