merry christmas, from ankara!

ben and i have enjoyed a very merry christmas so far, and we hope you have too!

we woke up on christmas even morning to a snowy ankara - just in time for a white christmas!

we spent the day at home before heading out to a christmas open house hosted by my friend carole.  it was fun to visit with friends, sip some eggnog, and certainly got us into the christmas spirit.

heading out for christmas eve fun - 36 weeks!

after the open house we were off to agatha & eric's house for a very special christmas eve dinner.  agatha's mom is here from athens, greece to celebrate the holidays.  she cooked us an amazing meal - turkey with all of the fixings, as they do in greece - and was so sweet with me, patting my belly & touching my face, making sure i was comfortable.

agatha's beautiful mom - she wanted her picture taken with the flowers we brought her!

shortly before dinner we exchanged gifts - transformers for the boys (of course!), which they were thrilled with.  they both got straight to work figuring out how to transform them and playing with them on every possible surface.

a happy/busy stefano

five year old alex - who sat in a quiet corner until he figured it out for himself by following the instructions ... very impressive!

agatha & her mom wouldn't let me lift a finger to help out - what a treat!

eric, in front of the spread

we had a lovely time with a family who have grown very dear to us this year.  we're so lucky to have added them to our ankara 'family'!

and, speaking of luck, agatha's mom placed the good luck frog - which she brought from greece - in front of me at the table, for emre.  and when we toasted before dinner, they said a special toast in greek which translates to 'freedom,' for the baby (more like for ME!)!  inşallah, he will decide to come out soon : )

last week i bought ben's christmas present, a remote control lamborghini (which he has talked about wanting to buy one day - i'm hoping this will satiate him when the midlife crisis hits, instead of the real thing).  every single day this week he has asked to open his present - knowing darn well that the wrapping paper was from his favorite model car shop.  every day i have told him no, that this is a christmas present and will only be opened ON CHRISTMAS.  well, this morning when i woke up i grabbed it from under the tree and brought it to him in bed, telling him he could finally open it.  and what did he do?  he pushed it away and said 'oh, that - i'm kind of over it...'  what a brat!  lucky for him, he was just kidding & seems to love his gift.  that's my husband, a true kid at heart!

merry christmas to you, wherever you are celebrating this year!