It is 
Christmas Eve here.We are a day ahead. I 
pray that all of you have a blessed Christmas. We are planning on taking a small trip here since Steve now has 5 days off. We had Christmas with the Children on Thanksgiving so we are kind of skipping Christmas this year. It is interesting to see the similiarities and differences in the holidays. Stores and traffic are hectic here for the holidays just like home. They have Santa here although some call him Father Christmas. Some churches have Christmas Eve services. Yes, they do have fruitcake here. Who knew that you couldn't get away from that one. They have Christmas lights on some houses but it is really pointless since it doesn't get dark until about 10:00 pm. It is a time for family just like at home . There are some distinct differences. There are less Christmast decorations. People here are very layed back. They will put up a tree but that is about all. They buy fewer presents and are just less fussy about it. They do have a Christmas dinner but it is usually cold food since it is hot here. They have a ham and salads. After dinner everyone goes to the beach . The evening tea is usually a barbeque on the beach. Some may barbeque as their Christmas dinner if the family prefers. The most interesting tradition is the Christmas Craker. You see the pictures I put up of it. There is a string that runs in the middle. One person has one end and another has the other end. Both pull hard. There is a popping sound and the string breaks leaving one person with just a string while the other gets the cracker. Inside there is a prize. It can be small or fancy depending on the price you paid for the cracker. Most comnonly though there is a crown, a small prize. and a dumb joke. I'm not sure who is really the winner. Well as the New Zealanders would say I wish you all a Happy Christmas ,
Christmas Eve here.We are a day ahead. I 
pray that all of you have a blessed Christmas. We are planning on taking a small trip here since Steve now has 5 days off. We had Christmas with the Children on Thanksgiving so we are kind of skipping Christmas this year. It is interesting to see the similiarities and differences in the holidays. Stores and traffic are hectic here for the holidays just like home. They have Santa here although some call him Father Christmas. Some churches have Christmas Eve services. Yes, they do have fruitcake here. Who knew that you couldn't get away from that one. They have Christmas lights on some houses but it is really pointless since it doesn't get dark until about 10:00 pm. It is a time for family just like at home . There are some distinct differences. There are less Christmast decorations. People here are very layed back. They will put up a tree but that is about all. They buy fewer presents and are just less fussy about it. They do have a Christmas dinner but it is usually cold food since it is hot here. They have a ham and salads. After dinner everyone goes to the beach . The evening tea is usually a barbeque on the beach. Some may barbeque as their Christmas dinner if the family prefers. The most interesting tradition is the Christmas Craker. You see the pictures I put up of it. There is a string that runs in the middle. One person has one end and another has the other end. Both pull hard. There is a popping sound and the string breaks leaving one person with just a string while the other gets the cracker. Inside there is a prize. It can be small or fancy depending on the price you paid for the cracker. Most comnonly though there is a crown, a small prize. and a dumb joke. I'm not sure who is really the winner. Well as the New Zealanders would say I wish you all a Happy Christmas ,
And what pulls Santa's sleigh? I know that in Australia, it is joeys or kangaroos. They even have a neat little song about it.
ReplyDeleteA different subject - what are some of the stranger word usages. Like when we went to Australia and used sloppy joe for sweater I knew we had some communication problems :-)
Have a wonderful Christmas Jill. And thanks for sharing your Grand Adventure!!
Dear Jill and Steve,
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful that you made it and are "enjoying" the Christmas time, way down under!
You probably have heard that we in Roanoke got dumped with lots of snow, in the southeast we had 12". It took 2.5 hours for me to dig out the driveway just to get on the street. Most likely we will have a "white" Christmas.
We love you both and will keep you in prayer.
Mike and Melody