Living in a non-Christian country, we often have to create our own Christmas spirit. And as the kids get older, they show less interest in the decorating, the baking, and the watching of shows like Rudolph and Frosty.
So this year I cut the baking and we didn't watch Elf. Instead, I came up with some weekly activities that helped keep the spirit alive while also spending time with each other (away from screens even!).
Christmas Taboo
This is just the traditional concept of the game Taboo but the words are all holiday related. I created my own list here, we just printed this off onto card stock and cut out the cards. You can find other lists and fancier cards online too, but I've made the list I created available for free.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OloMvrKQkE0bUBS7dTrJMgmvTF5VgooHtx53S2MEmOk/edit?usp=sharing
Christmas Bingo
I found LOTS of free printable Christmas Bingo sheets, but almost all of them were either themed around Hallmark Christmas movies or were just picture-based (intended for younger children). So I used the free Bingo card generator below and a list of Christmas scavenger hunt words to quickly custom make randomized Bingo cards.
https://myfreebingocards.com/bingo-card-generator
We printed out a couple sets of cards (the generator creates 30 for free, which is more than enough), then picked out a few short Christmas specials to watch. Depending on how hard or simple you make your cards, a game could take as little as 2 minutes or as long as an entire episode.
Christmas Spot It
I'm sure there's a better/proper name for this game, but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called.
The concept is easy: gather up some Christmas themed images. It could be Christmas cards, Advent calendars, movie stills, or just about any holiday themed photo/image. Then write the letters A-Z on a sheet of paper. Give yourselves 2 minutes to find objects in the photo that start with each letter of the alphabet. When time is up, start reading out the items on your list. You receive 1 point for each item that no one else thought of.
Example: you might look at a Christmas card showing the nativity, and write A: animal, B: baby, C: camel. If no one else wrote down animal, you would get a point for that, but if any other player wrote down baby or camel, you scratch that word and no one gets a point for that.
It's easy, fast, and you can always give younger players a bit of a head start.
Christmas Charades
I wasn't sure how well the kids would handle this as we've never actually played charades before, but they did surprisingly well and had a lot of fun with it. We printed out this free set of charade cards onto plain card stock. It worked really well.
https://www.agirlandagluegun.com/2015/12/christmas-printables.html
Cats of the Bostanli Seaside
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we've been going on a lot of walks along the Bostanli seaside. Today, while Nate was taking a quick break at the Yasemin Cafe, I sat down along the seaside and these guys came over to say hello. I love how they're just chilling along the seaside. The gray one was definitely quite well fed, she seemed to be quite content with having a tubbier beach body this summer.
The Fisherwoman in Kemeralti
While wondering through the maze that is Kemeralti, I've occasionally passed by this lady and her lovely...um...fish. If anyone knows the story behind her, please feel free to leave it in the comments.
Walking from Karsiyaka to Konak
No, I didn't make this up, today we made the walk from Karsiyaka to Konak, and it took about 3 hours.
There's a bike path that goes from behind Tersane, down along the Bayrakli seaside (which is actually nice now that they've redone it). It ends just before the port (liman) in Alsancak and you have to walk along the highway for a bit, but there's a separate pedestrian area, so it's not so bad. You come down from behind the Liman and cross over into Alsancak, just down from the ferry station, and from there it's smooth walking all the way to Konak.
There's a bike path that goes from behind Tersane, down along the Bayrakli seaside (which is actually nice now that they've redone it). It ends just before the port (liman) in Alsancak and you have to walk along the highway for a bit, but there's a separate pedestrian area, so it's not so bad. You come down from behind the Liman and cross over into Alsancak, just down from the ferry station, and from there it's smooth walking all the way to Konak.
Construction in Turkey
There's a saying "bir sey olmaz" - it certainly seems to apply to Turkish construction! This is how houses are torn down before reconstruction. The vehicles on top of the pile of rubble (working their way down) always makes me seriously contemplate why there aren't more work related accidents.
Mavisehir's Hidden Mermaid Statue
One of my favorite finds from our recent morning walks has been this hidden mermaid statue. The fountain seems to have been pretty neglected, but I love how she's sitting, looking towards the sea, just before the marshes where the birds nest, pelicans on one side and flamingos on the other (Izmir's seabirds).
She's along the seaside walking path just behind Ege Park if you're ever interested in going to visit her. From the bike/walking path, she's just behind the mini Canakkale Monument.
She's along the seaside walking path just behind Ege Park if you're ever interested in going to visit her. From the bike/walking path, she's just behind the mini Canakkale Monument.
Owning a Dryer
You wouldn't think that owning a dryer would be considered a luxury. Most Americans have grown up with one their entire lives and may use a clothes line in the summer months because it dries quickly and conserves energy. But believe it or not, here in Turkey, owning a dryer is extremely uncommon.
I've passed by streets with homes that sell for over 1 million Turkish liras, and they have drying racks full of laundry sitting on their sea view balconies. Despite having a definite rainy season that lasts for about 2-3 months, people in our area by in large resort to hanging laundry out on clothes lines strung from balconies or on portable drying rack carried daily to a sunny room. Imagine doing that for a family of 4 when it sometimes takes 2 days for clothes to fully dry due to wet and humid weather conditions.
Exhausted from this routine, I broke down and purchased a Turkish dryer about 2 years ago, and I was surprised both by how it works and that more people did not own them.
Unlike the dryers we have in the US, Turkish dryers don't have vents and they don't get terribly warm. They have a water tank in them that you have to empty after every cycle (and usually takes 2 1-hour cycles to fully dry 1 load of laundry). It may seem like a lot, but compared to leaving your laundry on a rack for 2 days all winter long, it's a life saver!
Yet despite only costing around 750TL/$150, most people (aside from possibly the extremely wealthy, I'm not sure) don't have them. It may be because of the space or electricity usage. Or maybe the cost? (750tl is about half a month's rent, maybe slightly more, for many people.) Or maybe just old habits just die hard? I haven't quite figured it out.
But in the meantime, I'll be the only mom in the school yard quietly listening to others complain about how hard it is to do laundry this winter, afraid to sound arrogant, snobbish, or affluent if I mention the convenience a dryer could offer. Meanwhile I also secretly wish it would work like standard US dryer - drying faster and requiring less maintenance. It leads to conflicting feelings: I've been told I should be grateful, but it's sometimes difficult to consider a machine that most would consider a necessity as a luxury. I mean it's a DRYER.
I suppose this is one of many examples of lifestyle changes here that I have yet to full come to terms with. More on that will surely come up in later posts, but for now, I'm off to go empty the water tank and start a second load of laundry drying.
I've passed by streets with homes that sell for over 1 million Turkish liras, and they have drying racks full of laundry sitting on their sea view balconies. Despite having a definite rainy season that lasts for about 2-3 months, people in our area by in large resort to hanging laundry out on clothes lines strung from balconies or on portable drying rack carried daily to a sunny room. Imagine doing that for a family of 4 when it sometimes takes 2 days for clothes to fully dry due to wet and humid weather conditions.
Exhausted from this routine, I broke down and purchased a Turkish dryer about 2 years ago, and I was surprised both by how it works and that more people did not own them.
Unlike the dryers we have in the US, Turkish dryers don't have vents and they don't get terribly warm. They have a water tank in them that you have to empty after every cycle (and usually takes 2 1-hour cycles to fully dry 1 load of laundry). It may seem like a lot, but compared to leaving your laundry on a rack for 2 days all winter long, it's a life saver!
Yet despite only costing around 750TL/$150, most people (aside from possibly the extremely wealthy, I'm not sure) don't have them. It may be because of the space or electricity usage. Or maybe the cost? (750tl is about half a month's rent, maybe slightly more, for many people.) Or maybe just old habits just die hard? I haven't quite figured it out.
But in the meantime, I'll be the only mom in the school yard quietly listening to others complain about how hard it is to do laundry this winter, afraid to sound arrogant, snobbish, or affluent if I mention the convenience a dryer could offer. Meanwhile I also secretly wish it would work like standard US dryer - drying faster and requiring less maintenance. It leads to conflicting feelings: I've been told I should be grateful, but it's sometimes difficult to consider a machine that most would consider a necessity as a luxury. I mean it's a DRYER.
I suppose this is one of many examples of lifestyle changes here that I have yet to full come to terms with. More on that will surely come up in later posts, but for now, I'm off to go empty the water tank and start a second load of laundry drying.
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