Christmas in Damascus

Bab Touma's Dandana Cafe is fully decked out for the season [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

Opening paragraphs from an Al Jazeera report:

Christmas in Damascus is different this year, after al-Assad’s fall by Ali Haj Suleiman

Damascus, Syria – There’s something different about Christmas this year, Damascenes say.

Although the decorations may have been more elaborate last year, Carol al-Sahhaf says this year’s festive mood is a cut above, less than two weeks after Bashar al-Assad fled and his regime crumbled.

On either side of the biblical Street Called Straight – or al-Mustaqeem or just Straight Street for short – lights and Christmas trees adorn the cafes, restaurants, shops and homes of Bab Sharqi, the neighbourhood nestled up to the Eastern Gate of the ancient Old City.

The alleyways around Straight Street are bustling, with a spring-like feeling in the air as shopkeepers repaint, dust off their shelves, and hang the green, white and black Free Syria flag.

Lights, cookies, and optimism

Al-Assad fled on December 8, and the country erupted into jubilation that lasted for days as Syrians celebrated the fall of the al-Assad family and the end of more than 50 years of brutal rule.

As those celebrations calmed, Olga al-Muuti told Al Jazeera, everyone turned to preparing for Christmas, New Year’s and Orthodox Christmas.