Haul out the Holly...
I love the holidays. In the U.S. Thanksgiving marked the start of the holidays. The weather was getting crisper, the leaves had all fallen from their trees, we would have started seeing the first flurries of snow. On Black Friday, the shops would be FILLED with shoppers taking advantage of the sales and to begin on their Christmas shopping. The christmas lights would be out in full force with every tree in NYC covered as if they were lined with snow made out of lights. Rockefeller Center was decorated in all its glory, and the department stores would have their Christmas displays out with christmas carol songs singing out from the windows. That was Christmas, that was the holiday spirit. As a kid, I loved seeing the colours, Red, Green, White, Silver, Gold just taking over. My sister and I would decorate our little 3 foot christmas tree and begin putting our presents underneath. Most of the times we already knew what they were, but the act of wrapping presents and then opening them was a once a year event. Growing up in Great Neck, we never embraced putting up the lights outside, as we would have been the ONLY family to have them, but once my parents moved, the lights have been increasing in number - sometimes to the point of tackiness, but it's the holidays! The more lights the better. 
In Sydney, the Christmas feeling has changed quite a bit. We're in the middle of summer. The temperatures are beginning to soar into the 80s, and instead of bundling up to go outside, you end up taking things off. Our version of the Rockefeller tree is the big one in Martin Place which is in the business district of the city, but also a HUGE tree that they've put inside the Queen Victoria Building - affectionately known as the QVB. It spans several stories within the mall and is decorated with beautiful Swarovski crystals. You can see in the picture of Martin place that the trees still have all their leaves, the skies are blue, and even the flag on top of the building isn't moving, so it's a still day.
So Christmas this year won't be warming up by the family fireplace, or getting red faces from braving the cold, but instead throwing on the AC and getting red faces from sweating to death. From those here, it sounds like Christmas is a day that you have friends/family around all get together for a BBQ or a day at the beach. Apparently all the guys in the group will be attached to the TV as they watch the Ashes Cricket match, and the women complaining that the series are too long (btw, they've already started and it's the beginning of December). I know that this will be the face of Christmas for a while, but I still miss what Christmas is supposed to be like. I guess the most important thing though is not necessarily what the thermometer says but rather who you're with - because it's still a holiday where one enjoys the company of their friends and family no matter where you are.
Australianisms:
Chrissy = Christmas
Happy Christmas = Merry Christmas
posted by Leighna @ 11:04 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home