Here
comes Christmas, sneaking up on us again.
I thought I was so well-prepared this year. I bought some new Christmas decorations last
January when we went to Budapest – the capital of Christmas decorations. I bought the main presents for the boys in Canada,
as well as lots of little stocking fillers, and advent calendars in London on
the way back. I even had crackers and
things left from last year. But suddenly
there are only 2 days left and I have to do wrapping, marzipan and ice two
cakes, make stock for gravy (Jamie Oliver has a lot to answer for)…..and I just
had a message from Kaan’s school to say they have picked tomorrow for a parents
meeting. They always do this – tell you
the day before, as though none of the mothers have jobs or anything else to do
– and then they really shame you if you don’t go to them.
I
do notice that most of this running round, stressing and icing cakes at 3am is
done by mums. Most of the men I know
look very smug and say they are nearly ready – when all they’ve actually done
is buy three presents, helped fix the Christmas tree lights and got through the
firm’s Christmas drinks!
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| baubles from Budapest - the one on the left is a blown egg-shell |
The
other evening, for the first time EVER, I watched ‘It’s a wonderful life’. It is always listed as the best Christmas
film ever – and though it’s pretty corny I did like the discussion going on in
heaven and Clarence the (rather bumbling) angel, and I love those wobbly old
movie sets! The boys just couldn’t
believe I wanted to watch a film that was SO old.
Here
is another story that amused me when I read it this week. It is quite seasonal as it concerns St
Nicholas, aka Santa Claus, who was born at Patara and became Bishop of Myra,
not very far from here. By the way, Cem
once rued the fact that while Finland makes a lot of money from the Santa
business, his real home was virtually unknown.
Since then, Myra has become a popular place for ‘pilgrimages’, mainly
with Russians (St Nicholas is apparently ‘big’ in the Orthodox church); last
summer when I drove through Demre (the modern town on the site) I hardly
recognized it.
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| Holly getting ready for Christmas |
Anyway,
this story concerns Nicholas’ supposed attendance at the First Nicean
Ecumenical Council in 325AD. This was a
sort of conference, organized by the Emperor Constantine in Iznik near
Constantinople. Over 300 bishops attended
from all over the Christian world to discuss some of the finer points of Christian
belief, particularly whether Jesus was equal in status to God. Nicholas, who believed he was, got so angry
with Arius, who believed he wasn’t, that he is said to have slapped him!
For
this very unbishoply behaviour, Nicholas had his bishop’s clothes taken from
him and was put in jail pending a decision as to his fate. However, in the night Jesus and Mary came and
gave him a copy of the Gospel and a stole so that in the morning he was found
to be dressed once more as a bishop.
When Constantine heard, he was so impressed by the miracle that Nicholas
was released.
By
the way, though his bones were taken from the church in Myra to Italy, his
FIRST tomb is thought to have been on Gemiler Island – the small island between
Fethiye and Oludeniz. There was a
monastery on this island so maybe he died while visiting there? Not sure of the details (Japanese archaeologists
were excavating there for a few years but I haven’t seen much sign recently)
but that is why it is often called St Nicholas Island.
Hope
he brings you what you want – and not a slap – this Christmas!
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| Two very cute Santas - who will kill me for putting this on! |
