Christmas | Christmas Spirit | Starbucks
How Starbucks Ruined My Christmas Spirit
In Antalya, Turkey.
I previously included this story in my last weekly wrap-up, so some of you may have read it already.
My partner and I are currently staying in Antalya, Turkey. We have been here since the first week of December.
Knowing that we were heading into a Muslim-majority country meant that I didn’t have high hopes for any sort of Christmas celebration, but as the days wore on through the month, my anticipation of Christmas was growing a little bit.
There were Christmas lights and trees hung up around the city, so I felt like there could be some sort of a Christmas celebration possible.
We are staying in a hotel that is owned by Russians and are painting some artwork on the walls for them. I figured that Russians would be into celebrating Christmas, but as the days wore on and nobody was mentioning it, I started to ask questions.
“Do Russians celebrate Christmas?” I asked our friend one day.
“No, not really. Our big holiday is New Year.” He said.
Fair enough.
But I couldn’t figure out why, if nobody celebrated Christmas, were there lights and trees decorating the city? In speaking with many people, including other travelers about this, it seems like it is something that is done now the world over, no matter what religion the country upholds.
Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve the hotel celebrated its grand opening. Our host had some friends over and a party ensued. It was fun getting to know a bunch of people (all Russians) with a few drinks in hand, but there was not one Christmas decoration in sight and nobody mentioned it at all.
In fact, it wasn’t until about December 28th that our host finally got around to putting up a Christmas tree and making a few decorative Christmas-themed centerpieces.
Christmas Day
On Christmas Day, determined to do something nice for ourselves, we went down to the sea to go swimming. We enjoyed the 20-degree weather and sat on the rocks sunning ourselves for a while. There were Turkish and Russian people around (Antalya is known as the Moscow of the Med), but again, nobody mentioned Christmas.
But I had to giggle at one lady gleefully exclaiming, “We are from Moscow! We can’t swim now it’s too cold,” as she bobbed around in the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Yes, we could certainly relate. Canada was currently in an insane winter weather advisory pretty much across the entire country.
After our swim, we were sort of walking around in the city aimlessly when I had a sudden inspiration.
“I want a Gingerbread Latte!” I exclaimed. “Let’s go to Starbucks!”
I had been feeling a bit despondent with my lack of Christmas spirit and this felt like the only familiar, tangible Christmas thing there was that I could get my hands on.
Now, we are certainly not Starbucks people. In our 5 years of full-time travel, I can count 2 that we have been in despite finding them in pretty much every country we have been to, except the countries we visited in Africa (at least we don’t remember seeing any there.)
The last one we had been to was in Istanbul in 2020 where we also celebrated Christmas. Back then it was during Covid and we weren’t able to sit in the coffee shop, we could only do takeaway.
Yes, I felt certain that this would chase my blues away.
We made our way to the nearest Starbucks which is centrally located near the historic district of Antalya. But as we approached we could already see that it was way too busy for us small-town kids. The lineup was spilling out the door and we couldn’t fathom standing in it just to get a coffee. We both detest line-ups and will go to great lengths to avoid them, which is what we did in this case.
I quickly google-mapped a new location. It didn’t look too far away so we set off on foot to get to it.
Arriving to Starbucks in Antalya, Turkey
After a 20-minute walk, we arrived to find that it did not have the same cool vibe as the other Starbucks because this one was attached to a mall. But it did have an outdoor patio which was at least nice. It also didn’t have a lineup! We only had to wait for 2 other girls to order their drinks.
The overhead menu was bright red and flashing images of Gingerbread Lattes, Toffee Nut Lattes, and other Christmas goodies. I noticed that the desert case had small cupcakes that were decorated with red and green toppings.
My anticipation was growing by the second and I was excited to add them to my Christmas treat list.
‘Yes, this will certainly bring me some Christmas spirit,’ I thought to myself as we approached the order counter.
I excitedly announced my order to the barista.
“One gingerbread latte please!” I was almost jumping up and down with excitement.
“We don’t have gingerbread latte.” He stated with no emotion whatsoever.
I stared at him wide-eyed, my mouth hanging agape in disbelief.
Refusing to take no for an answer, I glanced up at the flashing red signs that proudly displayed the Christmas selections.
“A chestnut latte?” I muttered. Trying to hide my immense disappointment.
“No chestnut latte.” He stated while he gave me another emotionless blank stare.
“No Christmas drinks?” I asked flabbergasted. “But it’s Christmas today!” I told him.
He simply shrugged his shoulders.
The girl behind us in line was laughing. I was dumbfounded.
It took me a moment to try and decide what to order. I had been so set on my gingerbread latte that I couldn’t even recall what the other drinks that I could order were. My eyes desperately searched the boards above the cashier to try and quickly pick something else.
“White chocolate mocha?” I squeaked.
“Yes, we have that.” He finally said.
Needless to say, I forgot the cupcake.
My Christmas spirit was officially squashed.
Why didn’t Starbucks have Christmas drinks?
We made our way outside to sit and drink our drinks, but I was certainly still dumbfounded and couldn’t understand why on earth they wouldn’t have Christmas drinks available on Christmas Day.
I recorded this video about our sad situation. You can see that I didn’t really let it ruin my day too much.
I finally surmised that they likely only order a set amount of the syrups and ingredients, and since Christmas isn’t a big deal in Turkey, they likely sell out of them quickly then don’t bother getting more.
At least that is my guess.
Our Russian friend thinks that because there are so many Russians in Antalya, and they celebrate something like Christmas during the first week of January, maybe they hold off selling those drinks until then.
Who knows!
Either way, it is a lesson learned and I will never rely on Starbucks for my Christmas Spirit again! Ha!
Special thanks to Dan Carlson | Meandering Naturist who shared my initial story of this event in his own post while titling it “Starbucks Ruined Christmas”. You inspired me to rewrite the story and give a more in-depth look at how the day unfolded.
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