preparing for christmas

i know i haven't posted in so long, and now i am bombarding you with posts. it's just that november wasn't a very exciting month. john was studying hard, i was working. that's about it. really. anyhow...

christmas is just around the corner. which, for all of you probably seems totally normal. but for us, it seems completely bizarre. mostly because it's hot and sunny. strangest thing to have sun and blue skies at this time of year. and while we have accepted that christmas is almost here, it's just not the same.

as the decorations for the holiday season come up across the city, it becomes painfully obvious that the US has a massive stranglehold on all things in this country. decorations for the holidays are exactly as they are at home. including fake christmas trees (they don't grow here), thick garland, warm fuzzy stockings and santa hats, snow globes,fake snow spray for windows, snowflakes, etc. i've asked people why the stockings? why not something else that is more significantly australian? monique and i decided on kangaroo pouches. and not on a fireplace (you definitely don't need one right now) but perhaps by the bbq or on the AC unit. sure sure, it seems strange to you, but it is way weirder to have references to snow and fire in a place this hot.

the other thing that is a little odd: christmas carols. they're the same as the ones we sing. yes, they sing songs about "dashing through the snow, on a one-horsed open sleigh" and "i'm dreaming of a white christmas". again i ask, have they not converted some of these songs to be more appropriate to australian christmas? why not "dashing down the beach, with my surfboard in hand, into the waves i go, splashing all the way" or something? again, seems odd, but that's what you do on christmas day!

so yes, they do have their own traditions: seafood bbq at the beach, with champagne and fruit (the aussies do love their booze). some people insist on turkey dinners, but it would just be too hot in my opinion (and well, too meaty...)carols by candlelight is another aussie tradition. essentially they go to a nice park, bring a picnic and wine (again with the booze) and hold a candle while people sing carols.

monique was quick to point out that most people in australia have probably come from the uk and north america, and so keeping with our traditions makes sense to them. but i just don't see it. i just find it so completely, utterly and ridiculously strange to see snowflakes in windows and christmas trees dotting the sidewalk near the white sandy beach, in the scorching hot sun.

to tell you the truth, i'm looking forward to starting some new christmas traditions. perhaps some sort of palm tree or native shrub to decorate. maybe a sandman in the font yard...yes, there will be carols on in our house and i'm sure most will be french, nanna mouskouri and lame, but that's ok. but i can assure you that i won't be hanging a stocking by the chimney with care. i might, just might, find me a kangaroo pouch instead.

xo