Season's Greetings

Winter Solstice, Bodrum

I don't know  how many readers of this blog celebrate Christmas, but to all those that do,  I wish you a  happy one.  I have handed over my red, Christmas pudding-adorned apron to my daughter as we are eating the festive meal at her flat tomorrow. I am only responsible for the meat. As it's a normal working day in Turkey, we shall eat in the evening, when my son-in-law-to-be arrives home from work, but we plan is to spend the afternoon walking the dog on the beach, with a flask of mulled pomegranate juice and some choice cheeses to remind us of the date.
After 12 years living in the UK, where I often produced a Christmas dinner at work before I went home to do it again for family,  you can not imagine the bliss I feel at having no deadlines and no pressure to perform at Yuletide.  I have spent less than 2 hours shopping for food and presents, got stuck in zero traffic jams and trawled around no multi-storey car parks looking for a space.  If anyone here tells me that they miss Christmas in the UK, my jaw drops in astonishment.  
This Christmas Eve afternoon I had the pleasure of listening to Prof. Dr Rüstem Aslan, Director of the Troy Excavations giving a lecture  about the recent excavations and the new museum being constructed on the site and in the evening will wander down to the Mayor's drinks party for foreigners living in Bodrum, usually a Boxing Day day event but two days earlier this year.    Archaeology and wine - a good start to the season.