Christmas away from home can, especially in a Moslem country, be a very different experience. Away from all the hype and anticipation that are present in Europe and North America, the process of developing a Christmasy atmosphere in your overseas home can take some effort. It can, however, be a Christmas that dreams are made of.
This year we spent our fifth Christmas in Turkey and it was the sort of Christmas I had dreamt about when I was a kid.
Christmas as we know it is not celebrated here, though many Turks celebrate New Year as we do Christmas. Consequently, many shops sell New Year trees and decorations, New Year cards and the shops are full of festive gifts. This year the end of Ramadan also came a couple of days after Christmas, which signals the start of the Seker Bayram (Sugar Festival), so coupled with the approach of the New Year holiday, the whole country was preparing for a week of holidays and festivities.
Our Christmas started early this year, on the first of December, when a parent donated a New Year tree and decorations to my son's Kindergarten. We, of course, then had to prepare our own tree and the excitement began to build.
Letters to Santa were written, stockings prepared and an ongoing litany of, ‘I want Santa to bring me…’ began.
The Ankara Women’s Association annual Christmas bazaar came next. This event of the expat spouse organisation is much anticipated both by the expat community and many Turks who have lived abroad. Normally unavailable festive necessities are obtainable, along with second hand English language books, videos and a whole host of gifts and accessories.
Importantly, as far as the children are concerned, Santa puts in an appearance too. A couple of elves come along and the all-important Polaroid camera is on hand to provide the immediate souvenir.
Now that we have Toys ‘R Us in town, Christmas shopping for the kids has become simpler, though trying to organise time to shop without the children is as difficult when abroad as it would be at home.
For adult friends and relatives, the old quarter of Ankara is still a bountiful source of beautiful Turkish copperware, meerschaum, carpets and jewellery, and online shopping puts the products of the world within reach too.
As December 25th approached the time began to drag for the kids (and us parents) as their excitement built to fever pitch.
As Christmas approached, the weather got colder. We waited with baited breath as the snow front got closer. Having grown up by the coast of South Wales I had never seen a white Christmas until I came to Turkey, and wanted one again as much as the kids.
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