Christmas the Aussie Way

I know I have said this before, but Christmas down here is so different from home!  I have been thinking about this a lot lately.  Aside from the obvious differences with the seasons and weather, there are more things that are different than the same!

Australian Christmas Bush

First is the food.  Back home a big dinner of ham or turkey with all the fixings is the norm. Here they BBQ!  Yep, they DO throw some shrimp on the barbie for Christmas.  Who really wants to cook all that heavy food when it is 90 degrees outside??

To drink?  Champagne instead of eggnog.


And for dessert- Pavlova is the big thing.  For those of you who do not know, Pavlova is a dessert named after Anna Pavlova, the famous Russian dancer. This dessert is believed to have been created in her honour after one of her tours in AU and NZ.  It is a meringue with a crisp crust and soft, light inside.  May have to make this for Christmas this year....

Trees-- most of the Christmas trees around here, in fact, all the ones I have seen are artificial. It makes sense though. There are no great forest of pine or fir trees here so artificial is the way to go.  A friend of mine actually went to a tree farm and was told that she was too late.  In AU, you visit the tree farm in November and reserve a tree which is then delivered to your home in December.

The decorations on the trees here are quite different as well. There really are not many lights on the trees or strung outside for that matter. I thought long and hard about this one and then, duh! It came to me. The reason we have so many lights during this time of year back home is because of the darkness.  The days are short and the nights are long. Here it is just the opposite!  It is light until 9 pm so lights are a little redundant!  Also the actual decorations are big and somewhat clunky here. Below is the big Christmas tree in downtown Sydney.

There are not that many windows decorated in downtown Sydney like you see in the big cities back home. David Jones is the exception. They have 5 windows done in the traditional style I remember from growing up. This year each window has a different Christmas song playing and a scene to go along with it.  They are really beautiful and the kids loves them.  One of the windows depicts children singing, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and the kids are wearing shorts and sundresses!  That is definitely different from the children bundled in warm clothes up back home.

One of the windows-- The Little Drummer Boy

When walking through stores here, you are not inundated with Christmas like back home.  There is typically one or two sections in the department stores (if at all) with Christmas items. This section is often tucked away and not the first thing you see upon entering.  And music, the same Christmas songs are played here, but you do not hear them EVERYWHERE like back home so when you do hear them somewhere it is still has its charm.

Oh, Pop-Up stores-- this is interesting. Not sure if it exists elsewhere, but it does here. All of the sudden all these stores that weren't here before are here. There is now a toy superstore on George Street (the main thoroughfare of downtown Sydney) that I am pretty darn sure was not there a few weeks ago.  There are also people who stand outside of stores with microphones and talk and talk about the sales going on in the store. It is supposed to entice you to go in-- doesn't do much for me.  

So these are some of the differences I  have noticed during this holiday season.  Still doesn't FEEL like Christmas and it certainly doesn't LOOK like Christmas, but it is so we will go with it and experience it the Aussie way this year!