Merry Christmas

After we moved to the US in 1981, we seldom (if ever) had an opportunity to celebrate Christmas with the family. At first, it was because as worker-bees, we opted to spend our limited vacation time in Turkey during months when traveling wasn’t impacted by adverse weather. After we retired, fall seemed to be our go to time-frame for Turkey … mostly so that we could fly one way and return to the US by ship. Mom did happen to be in the US visiting us a few times around Christmas time, but that was it.

Since, 2018, however, this is our third time spending time in Turkey over the late fall/winter months … with the goal of being together for Christmas celebrations. And this time, my brother is with us as well.

After a private birthday celebration for mom and Aylin on Christmas Eve, we invited guests to join us for Christmas … mom’s neighbor, Nevra; Aylin’s mother- and sister-in-law, Melek Hanım and Özen, and our cousin-in-law, Serpil.

A festive night was enjoyed by all … a feast of tasty foods and beverages, both traditional and not … and a gift exchange that turned hilarious as people stole presents from each other.Read more