A Matter of Choice

I love this time of year in Cyprus!  Over the last month the tourist areas have become a hive of activity as restaurants, hotels and bars prepare to reopen after the winter.  Carnival, Green Monday and the bank holidays, Easter and the anticipation of the summer season just around the corner gives us a spring in our step and a sense of optimism. It all begins with Tsiknopempti (which literally translates to 'Thursday of the smoke of grilled meat', due to the gorgeous aroma of meat being barbequed all over the island).   It's not widely celebrated by many expats here, I knew nothing about it until the boys started school but for me it now marks the start of the celebrations.  Last year I joined Leo at school to watch the celebrations and enjoy the BBQ laid on the for the parents, staff and children.  This year Leo is in big school and once again I went in to join the fun. It was a little strange as I was (as always) the only English Mum there, but...

As a child Christmas Eve was a long day, spent annoying my Mum and being impatient for Santa to come, but in the last couple of years I think I might even prefer it to Christmas day itself! In one of our Christmas books 'Kipper's Christmas Eve'  the dog Kipper asks 'Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?  What's better presents or expecting presents?' I certainly noticed an air of excitement in the house this Christmas Eve now that Leo understands the whole thing and even though Louka is still too young he was picking up on it more so than he could have done last year at 5 months old. In order to stop us all from going crazy we took a late afternoon trip into the local town of Paralimni to see the lights and get some fresh air. I was really pleased we did. In the main square was a merry go round and a free bouncy castle with a tunnel and a slide (which Leo was very pleased to point out to us). It looked like there had been a market and entertainment earl...