Southern Hemisphere Christmas

[AprilBaby]

Up north here it’s very dark , cold and depressing but Christmas lights help. Lots of celebratory events and such. I’ve been to OZ once at Christmas and people went to the beach. I’m wondering how you all feel about summer Christmas and how you get thru your winters ( short days).

 

[CHRISTY-DANIELLE]

I'm a Texas gal, Dallas area, so Christmas here could be cold. ..or 60 degrees and sunny. Thankfully the cold doesn't last long usually. Born in NY, family there, so I've had my share of snow days and driving in "white outs".
I think the short days are the worst part of winter! You get home from work and the sun sets. Depressing!

 

[Bron357]

Yes, Sydney Australia here. We often have 100F plus Christmas Days as we sit around eating hot turkey, roast veggies and plum pudding. Crazy,
Those these days a lot of people switch to cold seafood and salads, it being SO hot, but the traditionalists will still sit and eat a hot baked lunch!
While the visitors tend to go to the beach Christmas Day, it’s usually Boxing Day that is more hectic beachside. All the kids getting their surfboards and such and needing to try them out.
I was totally confused as a child that we never got snow for Christmas like all the movies etc depicted and how Santa got in when we didn’t have a chimney!

 

[AprilBaby]

Bron , how do you feel about Halloween in spring and Easter in the fall?

 

[GliderPoss]

It's funny how what you grow up with really sticks. I'm Aussie so Christmas is inextricably linked to summer - long hot days, BBQ's, eating mangos on the lawn, listening to the cricket... Once I had Christmas in the UK and really struggled to get into the VIBE of it ya know? It was festive but I just didn't feel it the same way. We eat our fancy baked meal on Christmas Eve to avoid the heat then have cold salads & seafood on Christmas Day, best of both worlds!

When I was a kid, I asked Mum once how could Santa come down the chimney when it's boarded over for summer (stop the flies getting in! LOL) and she said out here (on the farm) Santa just comes in the back door. I remember checking it wasn't locked on Christmas Eve!

Easter is usually still quite warm where we are so no big deal. We don't celebrate halloween.

 

[AprilBaby]

No Halloween?

 

[Bron357]

Bron , how do you feel about Halloween in spring and Easter in the fall?

It’s strange, Halloween has only been “a thing” here for about a decade or so and still not really as big a deal. Though the kids absolutely adore the idea of dressing up and wandering the streets looking for sweets! No one I know ever does tricks, it’s all about the treats!
Because it’s not a huge thing, if the front gate is decorated it’s ok to go and knock on the door.
Easter is a big, lots of chocolate and family celebrations.
Our other two main celebrations are Australia Day on 26 January and Anzac Day on 25 April.
And as a Sydneysider one other “event” - the Royal Easter show - which runs during the Easter break / school holidays which is combination of fun rides, show bags (branded bags filled with treats, chips, toys etc etc) produce displays, animals, crafts (and it’s like a showcase of talent and awards are given) arena events to watch with a firework display every night.

 

[Elizabeth35]

April Baby- I am a Midwesterner but was lucky enough to spend one Christmas with my brother and his family in Perth.They had a traditional Christmas tree with twinkle lights but it was HOT! Traditional dinner and Xmas pudding (made the year before) was standard. We went swimming in their pool to cool off after presents. Enjoyed seeing kangaroos n their yard.
Boxing Day was body surfing in the Indian Ocean.
It was heavenly.
Yet—-when the Aussies come to the the US they love snow! Their kids loved having a snowball fight and making snowmen.
We all enjoy the differences I suppose.

 

[AGBF]

I have never spent Christmas in the southern hemisphere, but I have a cloth Christmas wreath from Colombia, which is on the equator. I love it because it is red. It has the traditional arpillera type raised embroidery on it that the quilts do. I found it in 1992 when I was there adopting my daughter. Christmas in Italy was different from Christmas in the States. We didn't go to hotels or anything. Since my husband is from there, we were just in friends' homes. The small low-key Christmas trees that were not necessarily fir were interesting. But it wasn't the southern hemisphere, of course.

 

[monarch64]

Here is a difference I would enjoy: no ugly sweater parties/contests. I am so over that trend!

 

[AprilBaby]

Could some please tell me what a Christmas pudding is?

 

[Tekate]

I spent 18 Christmas's in Austin TX and hated it more every holiday, as the years progressed I got less Christmasy and more depressed at the heat in Texas. People in Texas so overdo christmas lights it's scary. I truly hate the heat. I spent New Years in Australia and it was lovely but I didn't feel 'holiday' at all because of the heat, but the country is so beautiful. I am a fall/winter person and I am so happy to be back in the northeast. I love the snow.. I love fall color, I love less traffic! I can say though it's quite a bit more expensive to live back in the NE than in TX.

Christmas without cold weather doesn't fee like Christmas to me, I think it's what one grew up with.

 

[leukolenos]

Could some please tell me what a Christmas pudding is?

It’s sort of like a fruit cake, but aged in alcohol so more moist. It’s steamed. You then pour flaming brandy over the top of it to serve.
Love it or hate it I think.
I hated it until I made my own....it is glorious homemade.

 

[AprilBaby]

Ummmm, no.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

It's cold and we haven't had sun for 3 weeks now due to how cloudy it is. I cope by trying to keep the house cozy and warm. I am baking and making home made soups when I have the time. DH and I catch up on TV shows and reading. We both take the dogs for walks- he takes them in the morning and I take them in late afternoon. The dogs and I searched the yard for critter tracks in the snow then walked down to the park which is at the end of my street. I love how quiet the park can be this time of year. It is like stepping back in time.

 

[Dandi]

I'm on the Victorian surfcoast in Australia, 10 minutes from lots of beautiful beaches, so Christmas for us is seafood, warm salads, cold meat, evening parties by the pool, and picnics at the beach. During daylight savings over summer it doesn't really get dark until about 9:30pm, we love long evenings at the beach or visiting friends. We don't celebrate Halloween but it is getting more of a thing here every year...I don't allow my kids to eat lollies regularly and don't want them bringing home hoards of sweet stuff...that said, my 5 year old is busting to go Trick-or-Treating, so I figure I'll have to give in eventually!

 

[bmfang]

Brisbane, Australia here. Up here it’s a lot more humid than in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth so it’s inextricably linked with all fans pelting at full speed to get rid of the heat and stuffy air or cramming everyone in the house and cranking up the aircon. Melbourne however is glorious in summer: more of a dry heat so even if the temp hits 40 degrees C (~104F), it’s not quite as bad. That plus the sun is still out at 9pm at night.

We’ve has a few Christmas days up in Brisbane with temps in the mid 30s C but with humidity at around 70-80% and those days start off being stinking hot and in the evening a big storm hits (nothing like listening to thunder and watching a light show from all the lightning). Humidity could be worse further north in Cairns or Townsville which is effectively like spending Christmas where I’m from originally (Malaysia/Singapore).

Usually for us Christmas means either Midnight Mass and Christmas Day service at my wife’s Church (or Mass on Christmas Day itself in the morning) followed usually by family get together with lots of food at our place (so my parents along with the Mrs, Bub and some family friends along with some WeChat video calling to my my wife’s family who are in China). Food wise, we may have a Baked Christmas ham on the table, but more often for us, it’s seafood that takes pride of place at the table (king/tiger prawns, some sand crabs or mud crabs, maybe some steamed baby abalone and whole fish). Not much dessert apart from fresh fruit (usually pineapple and watermelon).

Winter up here in Brisbane hardly gets that bad. We maybe get one week in August (usually the week of the Royal Exhibition Show [colloquially “The Ekka”]) where night time temps get to low single digits C (so like ~40F) but daytime temps usually hover around 24-26C (~75-80F).

As for Halloween, we don’t allow it but I have always said that I’d be teaching my son the real origins of Halloween (All Saints day) rather than the commercialised event it is now.

 

[Ally T]

I lived in New Zealand for a few years & to me, from the UK, Christmas was just, well, weird?! It was boiling hot instead of cold & snowy, and Father Christmas was in shorts. We BBQ’d & it was odd!