Snow, in Istanbul

As I mentioned, we got hit with our first snow of the season last week. On Thursday morning, we woke up to a light snow that I assumed would stop by the time lunch rolled around.  The funny thing about Istanbul is that it does not have to be at freezing to actually snow.  The amount of moisture in the air because we are surrounded by two large bodies of water (the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea) means the air is often cooler than the actual temperature-hence, lots of unpredicable snow.
By lunch, the snow was still coming down and looked like it was starting to stick.  Fast forward a few hours, and the roads looked like this:

Lovely right?  Work decided to allow us to head home early.  Our usually quick commute turned into a 4x's as long adventure.  We were thrilled to be home.  Friends normal 45 min. drive home turned into a 5 hour driveathon.  Yuck.  Snow is fun to play in, but not awesome to drive in when roads have not been plowed and folks are getting stuck all over.  Bummer!

We finally made it home for snowball fun with the kido.  I've spent our extra snow days cooking plenty of treats for the holidays-including the newest brownie creation, peanut butter and chocolate.  Kido managed to get a haircut-and in Turkey, haircuts are always great entertainment on a snowy day.  She had 2 different guys working to cut, curl, and shampoo her fluff.  She emerged quite the snow pampered princess and we celebrated new fluff day with yummy Turkish breakfast (yep, told you it was our favorite).

Diplo-hubby has braved the cold and some snow to bring us back a stockpile of American goodies from Ankara (closest Commissary).  He insisted his girls have a stockpile before he returns to the States-love him!
Best Holiday wishes to all!
Enjoy a snowball from here...