Christmas Down Under

Index

Family Traditions - personal observations about Christmas Down Under
What about Santa?

Family Traditions

These are some thoughts that people on the ANZAGL list had about Christmas in our part of the world and their own family traditions. Thoughts from Australia are marked [AU] and ones from New Zealand [NZ] but most of them could be set in either country.

Having experienced Christmas in both hemispheres the things that struck me as 
characteristic of "down under" were:

- outdoor BBQ Christmas Lunch / Dinner
- fresh seafood, salads, cold meats for Christmas Lunch / Dinner
- sunbaking, swimming at beach, pool etc.
- camping for Christmas (national parks, beaches etc.)
- when on Dad's farm - working hard at chores (free family
   labour for a couple of days :)
- our Australian Christmas carols

The whole 'feeling' is different - our birds are singing, sun is
shining, sky is blue, trees are green.  I almost felt Christmas
was needed just to stop people getting so depressed through winter
in England. As much as I enjoyed my first white Christmas
(and it did actually snow for Christmas morning; and traditional
Christmas carols started to take on new meaning), I almost went
mad having to be indoors so much - watching SO MUCH TV and
eating so much food!  I much prefer being outdoors and being
active and being WARM :)  [AU]

A few years ago we were at my in-laws in Brisbane and the children were up
at 1 am because Father Christmas had come.

We were not a pretty sight that day - eyes hanging out of our heads. It 
also happened to be the year that the uncles and nephews decided to 
stage a water fight - one uncle had gone and bought himself a 
superdooper super soaker so the next thing the hose was being used.

Usually up there we play a backyard cricket game.

Christmas at home is a much more sedate affair, well it would be with 
just the 4 of us - my husband cooks breakfast Christmas morning - ham 
and eggs.  (AU)

Not having to cover up pretty appliqued t-shirts because it is nice and warm.
A ton of seafood and a crisp white wine.
Family sport in the backyard.
Being outside on a warm summer night singing carols or looking at front yard
Christmas displays.
Cooking a late Christmas dinner on the BBQ.
Having it coincide with Summer Holidays.  [AU]

Here goes  with a few starter ideas -
Carols by Candlelight  - local community ones as well as the big ones.
Beach or backyard cricket with the family after Christmas dinner.
Sweating Santas - one at every end-of year gathering, let alone all the stores.
Pavlova and fruit salad with all the wonderful summer fruits instead of 
plum pudding - reserved for my English brother-in-law.

There's lots more of course but these are a few that are unique to the
Antipodes I think.  [AU]

Strawberries dipped in both white and milk chocolate is a must for
Christmas.

Every year we go out and collect/cut/buy/scrounge a real pine branch... 
Christmas tree shape. This beats all artifical trees branches up! Everyone 
has to take part in decorating it so it has to be a night everyone is 
available (often difficult but it doesn't happen unless we are all here)

re: gifts
With my family we use a letter of the alphabet. Every present has to start
with the allocated letter which we decide the year before. We give points 
for gifts with double letters etc. :)

That is one family... the other we buy presents for the kids and for the
adults we are trialing just buying 'special' food and plonk for everyone to
share over the festive season... should be fun! i've put my order in....,:)
[NZ]

One thing we have at Christmas time is an ice-cream pudding.

Using a 2 litre tub of chocolate ice-cream
Mixed fruit
Choc Chips
A little brandy (if you like)
A little bit of orange juice
Some almonds or crushed nuts.
Some cream

Mixed altogether and frozen in a bowl.

When required it is taken out of the bowl and chocolate poured over top
of it.

I think a lot of people from the Northern Hemisphere get the impression
that we all go to the beach for Christmas.  [AU]

Well we like to party! the whole day long...
5-7am ? - Santa sacks opened by kids
8-9am - Champagne breakfast - steak, ham, eggs, bacon etc. & Champagne of
course.
Anyone is invited, ( family, friends, mates, neighbours) just come and start
your day off.
12am-1pm - Christmas lunch - barbecue - steak, salads, ham, cold desserts,
special things ....
Open presents...
Sleep or walk (depending on what your needs are)
6-7pm - Christmas tea - usually with the 'other' family! Either
leftover foods, more ham, salads etc. or roast meal, (old traditions die 
hard sometimes), turkey, pork, veges, new potatoes and peas (from garden), 
steam pud with five cent coins pushed in just before it is served. (if you 
get one in your serving you have good luck) :)

Before and after tea (after the sleep) we play games like lawn cricket, mini
golf (on lawn), crochet (not knitting if I've spelt it wrong ) :)( I mean
something you hit balls around with a hammer through tunnels on lawn).  
[croquet :) ]

The bagpipes might come out, music will play and often a swim or 3 in the
pool. Heaps of sitting around chatting and if we haven't already opened
presents with this family we do it again!
Everyone camps on the floor or tents on the lawn to save driving anywhere
and everyone can have a few drinks

Well that is our Christmas day...  [NZ]

I remember several big family Christmases with extended family, at my 
nana and granddad's place.  A big long table was set up in the garage, 
and all the families contributed to the meal.  We had real (English) 
traditional things like baked ham, turkey, new potatoes, minted peas, 
salads, etc., followed by steamed pudding with 3d (or 3penny) bits 
(there was also a 6d in the pudding, which always went to my brother 
Noel, with great ceremony) and custard, my nana's famous sherry trifle, 
pavlova, fruit salad.

Somewhere in amongst all this we exchanged presents - kids, toys and 
food everywhere!

We used to spend one Christmas doing this, with the following spent at 
home (and a visit to my grandparents on Boxing Day).  

When I was about 12yrs my parents had 7 mouths to feed on a single 
(low) income, so the tradition of exchanging Christmas presents became 
a thing of the past.  Besides, my birthday is a week before, my little 
brother's is on Christmas Day (that's why he's called Noel) and my mum's 
is about 2 weeks after (on 5 Jan).  So you can see, it was already an 
expensive time for the family.

My dad always said that Christmas was a celebration of life and families, 
not the exchanging of expensive (often useless) gifts.  So Christmas 
dinner with all the trimmings, and being together as a family, became the 
main focus for the day.  My husband always remembers his first Christmas 
at my families house - I think that's why he married me!

Usually we have a cooked meal starting at about 1-2pm followed by a "blob 
out" session in front of the tele, or walking or playing games or (in my 
husband and dad's case) sleeping or snoozing!  At about 7pm we have another 
"snack" of lunch leftovers and bread.  [NZ]

I thought I'd be spending my Christmases on the beach when I came to 
Australia but I've never even had a BBQ on Christmas Day. One year we ate 
our traditional turkey dinner out on the verandah though and friends of 
mine used to have their traditional dinner on Christmas Eve when it was a 
bit cooler. My husband thinks it's all a bit silly but I just love that 
roast dinner followed by Christmas pud and mince pies.  [AU]

As a child it was enjoying roast chicken and all the trimmings. The 
chicken had to be bought live from the "chicken man", killed by my father and 
cleaned and plucked by my mother. What a thrill for us kids if it was a hen 
and there were eggs inside! This feast was reserved for Christmas and 
birthdays only. After lunch there would be watermelon to eat out in the back 
yard and spit out the seeds in the garden and hope to grow our own vine for 
the following year.

But best of all was picking mangoes off the tree and leaning over the grass,
sinking teeth into the mango and letting the juice run down chin and arms.
This would often be followed by a soaking with the hose to clean up and cool
down.

In more recent years it has been reliving some of the traditions through my
children. Up at first light, about 4am, to sneak a look in Santa's sack,
then later getting together with family and friends.

These days it is all the family coming to us, A cold lunch on the back deck,
cold meats, various salads and of course all the luscious fruits that we are
so fortunate to have in abundance. We still have the traditional plum
pudding and Christmas cake, but in the evening when hopefully it is a bit
cooler.

When we had young children a beach holiday was always part of the summer
holidays, but in January not at Christmas time.  [AU]

Food, gifts, santa, Church?
These are all part of Christmas but no matter where you are, or what you
do, its the people you share Christmas with that makes Christmas.  [AU]

Christmas on our farm.......
a special feast for the working dogs..... soft dog food and warm milk!
our chooks get a bucket of cooked oats...
the cats warm milk and tin food!
we have spent the morning on the tractor harvesting......
or in the woolshed crutching fly blown sheep......
children going outside to see what santa left.....
a bbq as long as it is not a total fire ban day.......
a swim at the lake.....
lollies and softdrinks and all those treats we don't have during the year. 
[AU]

We often have a Christmas breakfast / brunch with our cousins
rather than the whole traditional meal - lots of yummy fruits,
salads, cold meats etc.  Mind you if I'm up in Auckland I do have the
full works, Dutch-Kiwi style at my in-laws too - even though 
traditionally the Dutch celebrate St Nicolaas' Day on Dec 6th rather 
than Christmas :)

My favourite part of Christmas is decorating the tree. I have some 
friends in various parts of the world who swap home-made ornaments 
with me once a year and it is always really exciting to open them 
and hang them on the tree or the wall, and to have fun planning and 
making the ones to send overseas.  [NZ]

I lived most of my childhood with my Grandparents and I remember my
Grandfather making the Christmas pudding about a month before Christmas.
It would be wrapped in a cloth and hung up in the kitchen under the cup
cupboard. My Grandfather had been a cook in the Army so he was a great
cook. There were always small coins in the Christmas pudding much to our
delight. We never had a Christmas tree but we used to decorate the room
with streamers all over the ceiling. Our presents would be at the bottom
of our bed on Christmas morning in a pillow slip. Some of our old
neighbours who when I think about it now were spinsters used to invite
the children of the street in about 10am and we would show them our
presents. They used to get a real kick out of it. One of the things we
always had was lamb and mint sauce, roast potatoes, kumera, and fresh
peas out of the garden that I used to shell (no frozen ones then) with the
Christmas Pudding we always had trifle which I hated as it had a strong
taste of sherry, fruit salad and flummery (which is made from jelly and a
can of ideal milk beaten together, yummy) We always had Christmas lunch
and the afternoon would be spent listening to Christmas messages on the
radio and playing games.
It brings back lots of old memories doesn't it? I used to be teased about
calling Father Christmas "Father Thing" when I couldn't get my tongue
around the word Christmas!  [NZ]

Our extended family is well-spread around NZ.  Every year whichever 
family is organising the charity will let us all know and anyone can donate 
regardless of the amount.  Sometimes it is for a local charity say in 
Christchurch or Auckland, other years it has been a national cause eg Blind 
Foundation.  (Our Grandfather was blind).

We exchange presents with a family who are very good friends.  These presents 
always have a theme (yes we met through Guiding) and are limited to $10 or 
less. Last years theme was that the gifts had to smell.  I got a bag of 
manure - perfect as I am passionate about gardening.  This years theme is that 
it has to be wearable. Probably more thought goes into these presents than 
anything else because of the money restriction.

We also exchange presents with immediate family members, as there are 
little children and the not so little.  There is a limit put of the amount 
spent here as well.

As a family we spend the day together.  [NZ]

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What about Santa?

We have the traditional Santa, the red hat, big white beard and red
suit.  It had been 40 degrees the day our Santa came.  I would be just as
happy to see him in red shorts and t-shirt, but that might cause other
problems.  As it was, I was told that Santa had tattoos.  Oops!  [AU]

Santa's in shopping centres and Christmas parades tend to dress like
the traditional Santa Claus.  However on Australian Christmas cards
(which I love sending to overseas friends and relatives), Santa dresses
in anything from a dryzabone (Australian oil-skin raincoat), workboots
and corkhat; to red boxers and t-shirt.  It depends if he's in
his sleigh being pulled by the six white boomers (male kangaroos),
sitting around a campfire for the Bush Christmas, or surfing and enjoying
our beaches!  Personally I prefer the Australian Santa's :)  It never
made sense to me as a kid for Santa (1) to be so big (how does he fit
down the chimney?) and (2) to be dressed up like he's living in Antarctica
when its 30 degrees!  But then I always was the practical kind ;-)  [AU]

Father Christmas is the British name for the jolly red gentleman 
but increasingly he is being called Santa in New Zealand and Australia. 
In New Zealand images of him are, by and large, traditional.  There are 
also a few images of a more ethnic Father Christmas appearing - often in 
red shorts, singlet and gumboots and a sunhat.  Cartoon kiwis are also 
appearing on Christmas cards dressed in some form of the traditional 
red attire. It makes a lot more sense for him to be dressed appropriately 
for our climate than to suffer heatstroke or worse in traditional dress.

We always left Father Christmas out a bottle of beer and some biscuits on 
Christmas Eve as it seemed appropriate in the hot weather.  I'm not sure 
how that would go with drink drive laws now though :)

I always thought that it must be safer for Father Christmas getting down 
chimneys in this part of the world - December being mid-summer at least he 
wouldn't get a burnt behind!!!  [NZ]

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