Such a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays Everyone!

By far, I'd say that this Christmas was my absolute favorite so far. But first, I'll start with Christmas Eve...

On Christmas Eve, I met Daffne for breakfast at Bambi Cafe in Kadiköy around 10:30am ((For all of you wondering, my school was still in session over Christmas, but our holiday break is end of Janurary/beginning of February. So Daffne and I asked for the permission of our school and host families to not attend school December 24 & 25)). After breakfast, we took a short metro ride to a nearby mall because Daffne needed to finish up some shopping still.

Christmas Tree we found at the mall

Beautiful decorations!

It looked like a winter wonderland! 

Later we returned to Kadiköy and went to Seyhan Cafe (which is my favorite cafe of all time because it's hidden on the third floor of a bookstore!) for a late lunch.

She got some pasta and I got a "Mexican Burger" solely because we both wanted to see what made it "Mexican". It was just spicy... Daffne got a good laugh though!

 By the time we finished lunch, all the other exchange girls had joined us because we were attending a Christmas Eve dinner that was put on by Daffne's host parents!

The group! L to R: Argentina, USA, USA, Mexico, France, USA (me), USA, and Brazil

The table pre-turkey

The Turkey has arrived! 

Daffne and I

Hana, Daffne, and I

Such a great night! 

CHRISTMAS DAY!!

So we all went back to Daffne's house around 10am the next morning to bake cookies & Apple bread, hang around in our pj's, and watch Christmas movies! 

Gabi (from Brazil) was mixing the apple bread dough with her hands and when she was finished, Daffne, Julia, and Hana literally ate the dough off her hands! 

Gabi and Hana

The two kinds of cookies we made were chocolate chip and snow balls! So delicious :)

After we finished the cookies, we all sat down to watch some TV while Laura (from Brazil) ate 15+ Snowballs! I can't blame her, those were so good :)

After we all finished cleaning the kitchen and living room, we left for Kadiköy to meet the boy inbounds. We met them around 5:30pm and from there we sat by the seaside on these huge rocks. The view was spectacular! We could see the European side all lit up, plus all the lit up boats passing through. After about an hour and a half, the ones living on European side had to start heading back home. But I went with Daffne, Gabi, Arthur, and Laura to get some dinner. We ate Monte at the same Monte place Daffne and I always go to. It was delicious. I couldn't imagine a better Christmas dinner than one spent with friends :) 

I hope you all had a happy and healthy holiday season!

Maggie