Christmas, Santa Claus and a Little Girl

Christmas, Santa Claus and a Little Girl

Image: Pixabay/@6979608. CCO

Snowy winter days and holiday season is always so much fun for little girls like me…

I am the luckiest one in my siblings, I am the oldest and because of this I am the one who spend longer time than them with my parents… I lost my father when I was 18 years old. I have many nice memories with him. I had that privileged to being first child, he was a friend to me since the beginning.. took me to the city tours all the times when I was little, cafes, museums, live concerts etc. while my mother taking care of two babies at home… my brother and sister, one year apart from each other, almost like a twins.. my mother was too busy with new born babies and I remember it was a bit stressful times too for her…

Anyway, one of my earliest memories with my father was Santa Claus… I was maybe 3/4 years old, something like that, my siblings were not born yet… one day my father told me about Santa Claus (Noel Baba in Turkish, in all Europe similar names as we know, Father Christmas, Pere Noel, Papa Noel, Babbo Natale etc.)… And that day was so hard to pass for me, I was waiting for Santa Claus that night, I’ve fallen asleep and after day I woke up with excitement, and started to search for my present… It was under my pillow or something like that I think, my first ever gift from Santa Claus! It was amazing, a toy. not remember the toy but remember the story like it was yesterday…

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I had a plastic inflatable Santa Claus toy as well in same year probably… later my mother told me that, it was my father put that gift for me actually… Not Santa Claus, he didn’t come from chimney! But it didn’t hurt the story for me, not a bit…

Next year it was even better, I had my first Christmas Tree! I asked from my father maybe not remember that part, and it was not much common in Istanbul in that times, no where to buy… But my father saw on a store window, they were using for their New Year’s Eve decoration, not for sale.. he asked them if he can buy the tree and they sold it!

When he came home at night hours, it was an amazing surprise for me.. a small tree with all that decoration stuff, ornaments and lights and everything! Just an amazing thing, hard to get my eyes off… You can imagine the joy of a little girl, her father is bringing a joyful tree just for her… I was seeing in books and movies and in some store decoration probably… not remember if any our friends or relatives was decorating a tree in that times…. 1970’s Istanbul, I am sure there are some families but not that many.

Following years we had real, generally mid-size trees.. and always a few days after the New Year’s Eve, we planted the tree in our backyard.. some of them lived, some of them not and later years we had and decorated artificial trees as well…

That’s why even in this age, this holiday is my favorite, a family tradition for me, something to remember, something to hold on to my childhood memories…

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Sharing the joy with billions of people around the globe with this beautiful cultural festival is priceless…

Oh, and yes he told me at that age about Jesus too, I knew that this is actually the birthday of Jesus and Christians are celebrating the birth of Jesus. Later years in Istanbul too, this holiday went bigger and bigger every year as a cultural celebration instead of religious.

Except one year, I never passed a year without a tree small or big, gifts for loved ones or joy of the season… except that 1998 December, the horrible and irreversible times, while my mother enter the coma after a surgery and never succeed to come out of it… We spend the holiday season, the New Year’s Eve and some more months in the hospital. This is a story for another time… Except that year, I never passed a year without a tree small or big, gifts for loved ones or joy of the season…

I haven’t a little daughter to pass the tradition or tell my stories, that’s why I am sharing with you…

Wishing everyone, peace, love and a joyful holiday season!

Nil Taskin