All Entries Tagged With: "christmas"

Picture of the Week XXXIII

Well, there you go, I was planning on a home-produced pic this week, with parcels from back home tucked under the tree, tree lights twinkling, and a plate of cookies and glass of milk (laced with rum) for Santa. But, the parcels haven’t yet arrived, so here’s the backup…a nicely lit Jerusalem alley with Christmas trees a plenty, and yes, even some Santas! Takes me right back to a Christmas past…

The pic was taken by Eitan Charnoff, who has some other great pics of Israel in his collection.

Happy Christmas to you and yours!

Right, I’m off to down that glass of milk (laced with rum) that Santa didn’t drink…

If you’re going to listen to just one Christmas song, this has to be it…

The greatest Christmas song. Ever. OK, not very Israeli-related, but this is the one I’ll be taking with me to that desert island…you can never have enough of Shane McGowan!

A Christmas Past…

A few years back, before the patter of tiny feet scuttling across my living room floor became a daily joy (and I’m not talking about reindeer here), Christmas in Israel meant heading over to Jerusalem or Bethlehem, accompanied by a never-ending flow of alcohol…us Brits eh? Not like we ever need a reason…

One particular Christmas stands out in my mind, and that was back in ‘94. In an effort to get festive, my mate Peter and I had decided to set off for Bethlehem. Well, that was what we’d told our Israeli girlfriends…the truth was we had heard of a Christmas Eve party in Jerusalem, so had decided to party Christmas Eve in style. Rather than mingle with the masses at Midnight Mass.

We caught a minibus over to Jerusalem and after getting diverted by a car ablaze in the middle of Jerusalem (nothing sinister, just an engine blowout), finally ended up at one of the tourist pubs where the “party” kicked off. The beers flowed, the party moved on to the Underground Bar, and the singing and dancing on tables began with a passion.

Something I’d never seen until I came to Israel was the standing on tables in bars and pubs. It never seemed to take much to get Israelis up and singing and perched on their bar tables, but on this Christmas night I was up there with the best of them! Christmas classics were belting out and the few tourists that were in the pub were singing our drunken hearts out, lurching from table to table and getting the Israelis in the bar to sing along with us. There’s something quite amazing about seeing a bar full of people singing along to Band Aid’s “Feed the World”…

As the night continued, I remember Peter and I strutting our stuff to some Israeli tunes as we danced with Israeli soldier girls and other dark-haired beauties. I recall promises of phone numbers and return visits to Jerusalem, but my memory cells had been obliterated by beer and we had to get back to Tel Aviv that night…and as the taxi driver put his foot down and I spotted the speedometer hitting 160km/h I decided that closing my eyes was the better option (I still don’t remember waking up after this taxi ride home, but I guess I must have stumbled home somehow!).

Anyway, this post was just an excuse to feel a little festive, and to play one of the biggest and best Christmas tunes out there and to recall a festive Christmas Eve many moons ago (as I change another nappy…)…it might be 25 years old but it still sends a chill down my spine whenever I hear it!

My home this Christmas-Hanukkah season

Christmas and Hanukkah all rolled-into-one round our way. The kids are enjoying themselves though, and had a great time destroying bedecking the tree with tinsel and baubles. And then lighting the Hanukkah candles and eating donuts…

There was a great moment when the mohel (the person who performs circumcisions) came to our place on Saturday to slice and dice my newborn son - the Christmas lights were twinkling away and reflected in his shiny clamps and slicers as he did his thing…

Our house: the epicenter of multiculturalism in the Holy Land!

Picture of the Week XXX

This week’s picture is seasonally inspired, as throughout December we’ll be celebrating Christmas in Israel here on igoogledisrael. It’s a great shot of the Basilica of the Nativity, part of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. There’s nothing like walking through this great big Basilica and then walking down to the Grotto to the exact location Jesus was born…very moving, even for non-believers like me.

The picture was taken by Christopher Chan, an amazing photographer from Kuala Lumpur, currently living in Australia. It appears he was here on holiday a couple of years ago and took some great shots of the area. Check his stream on Flickr out, you won’t be disappointed.

Christmas Day in Tel Aviv

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Happy Christmas from the Holy Land! OK, so we’re in the not so holy Tel Aviv, but still…wherever you are, have a great day!

Yesterday I took a drive over to the slightly more holy Old City in Jerusalem. It’s been awhile since I was last there but it is inspiring. The sheer power of the Western Wall is amazing, while the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, especially the interior, was stunning. Even the wife was impressed. We were tourists for the day and enjoyed every minute.

Especially nice to see the flood of tourists - tourism in Israel in the Old City was flourishing yesterday and I’m sure it has been for a few days. Apparently in Bethlehem, tourists have also been flocking amid the relatively safe atmosphere, and as Bethlehem is just down the road from Jerusalem, the capital seems to be the one to benefit most. Enjoyed this quote from a romantic sounding Italian:

“Bethlehem is like the soul of the universe, and it’s like an explosion of love here,” said Stefano Croce, 46, a fashion photographer from Rome, Italy.

Anyway, I’m off to tuck in to some imported mince pies, have a few beers, and have a long-distance call to Blighty with the folks back home. Maybe even have myself an explosion of love.

Happy Christmas to you and yours!

It’s Christmas time, and there’s no need to…celebrate?

If you’re not going to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, Christmas in the Holy Land is pretty much non-existent, save for the odd pub/hotel catering to a touristy crowd. If I don’t make it to England, I usually miss it badly.

Yeh right, I hear you say, all those Christmas trees, the cold, cold evenings spent fighting your way through the shopping crowds, the same 10 Christmas songs played over and over again on the radio, the Wizard of Oz on the BBC…I know most people in England are sick of the commercialism and endless advertising by the time it’s even December, but you never realize how much you love something until it’s gone. I love Chrismas, always have and always will.

And now, with two littl’uns, that pang for Yuletide festivity has got even stronger. Stories of Santa are going down very well, as you can imagine. I’ve even managed to brainwash the wife into loving it (couldn’t be down to all those presents…could it?), and we usually end up celebrating Christmas Day in Tel Aviv, somewhere…

Celebrating Christmas does get harder, especially when you no longer mix in the tourist crowds, or those same tourists you once partied with are now elsewhere or settled down in suburbia. But Christmas is something I will never give up on, wherever I am in the world. That will mean a good few beers, accompanied with a Christmas type movie, maybe even with the kids by my side, and possibly a quick visit to a top Tel Aviv pub for a pint or 3. 

This year Christmas falls on Thursday, which might mean a Wednesday night Christmas Eve session drifting into Christmas Day proper (day off work, of course - yes, it’s a normal working day in Israel). So, if you spot a lanky guy wearing a Santa hat strutting his stuff in Tel Aviv, just slightly inebriated, come over and give me a kiss/handshake, whichever option suits you best. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, and if that means getting all fired up by Wham’s “Last Christmas”, it’s gotta be done…

I do hereby promise, that if one day I do open my own pub, Christmas will be celebrated in style…mince pies, sausage rolls and even mistletoe. Make your reservations now!