a) It is late October so by now the Christmas-themed commercial overkill should have well and truly begun in Australia. My last Christmas lead-up period in a predominately Christian was 2000 in Australia and my previous Christmas in a Christian country was 2001 in Slovenia. Christmas day 2002 I was in transit in Istanbul, on my way to Sofia, Bulgaria, so that doesn’t count.
If all goes well, this Christmas I will be attending Hani’s wedding in Pakistan. I was all prepared to got to Hani’s wedding in 2005 until, unfortunately, it was called-off. Now I’ll again be able to use the Pakistan links I kept on the left column of this blog. My last 3 Christmases and New-Years were all in the Adana-Mersin area so I plan to be somewhere different this year!
b) A recent storm blew through the open window into my room and knocked my Russian Christmas souvenir off the wall.
Josh, brought the Santas from Russia to Slovenia for Christmas 2001 and mine survived until the storm.
c) A few years ago Annie and David sent a Christmas package from Australia. Included was a small Christmas tree decoration that I still hang from the apartment door:
d) As Christmas is traditionally held in hot weather with ham, prawns, summer fruits, cold beer, cricket and the beach, one year I may hold a ‘Christmas in July’ in Turkey. I just need to find the cricket, ham and mangoes. On that note, I’m about to go to Peter’s place to watch Australia take on India.
e) Amazon.com sent me an email for the ‘2006 Holiday Season’ including a link for their hot toys for 2006
