Summer Christmas vs. Winter Christmas
In the northern hemisphere, folks bundle up in thick coats to keep warm while here people strip down to the last layers to keep comfortable in temperatures that hover around 40 degrees Celsius. There is no huddling around log fires; just splashing around in the pool. Snow storms versus bush fires. The dissimilarities are numerous.
Australian Christmas
The first signs of Christmas in Australia appear in the huge department stores such as Myers, where they put up window dressings in keeping with the season. This is a great attraction for kids and adults alike. Tall Christmas trees sprout with glorious decorations. Entertainment venues such as the Crown Casino in Melbourne go all out with decorations and exciting events.
Schools close down for the year after a final day of Christmas celebrations, Carols, and gifts exchanges. That’s when the fun quotient goes up a level. Outdoor lights sparkle along roof tops and windows. The bold and the reckless sometimes get carried away and have rein deer on roof tops with half-a-Santa (the bottom half), stuck out of chimneys.
Carols by Candlelight
Cities like Melbourne and Sydney have a spectacular event known as Carols by Candlelight just before Christmas. In Melbourne, folks head for the Myer Music Bowl near the Botanic Gardens. Family and friends come armed with picnic mats, throws or rugs and huddle together in groups to sing carols along with professional choirs and singers, holding lit candles.
As the sun goes down, the candles come aglow, one by one, and soon the lights are all switched off and the event is lit by candlelight alone. This has become popular all across the nation and most towns enjoy their own version of this beautiful programme.
Christmas Day in Australia
On Christmas day the temperature will probably be soaring in the high 30s, and while the rest of the world hope for snow, Aussies just hope that pesky bushfire doesn’t get too close. Most families go for midnight church services, after which they exchange greetings, pop a cork, have a few rounds and then eventually turn in.
Christmas day is when families and friends get together either for a huge lunch or dinner. There’s a scramble for gifts under the tree. Santa will probably make an appearance with just the famous hat, beard and...swimming trunks. If he wore a traditional suit, the poor bloke would probably pass out from the heat.
Christmas lunch has now mostly given up on the roast turkey and gone for cold meat, seafood, salads, ham, mince pies, potatoes, vegetables, and plenty of cold, cold beer, more in keeping with the weather than tradition. Usually this will be around the barbeque by the pool, or a picnic on the beach. It all winds up with Pavlovas, pudding, and tonnes of ice cream.
Things quieten down a notch after the heavy meal. The youngsters round up a game of cricket or tennis, or at least watch it on TV. The warm afternoon hours then reverberate with snores of varying decibels, rising from sofas, bean bags and hammocks.
