RomanceEverAfter

Romance & You (Articles)

"It's 90 Degrees and It's Christmas"
by Jane Beckenham
www.janebeckenham.com
(Christmas in New Zealand)

Sleigh bells tinkling, icicles dangling from tree tops, frosty breath, snowmen with a carrot for a nose. Christmas is just around the corner.

Many a traveller down under, or immigrants who yearns for a slower paced life, a different lifestyle end hanging upside down with a bunch of Kiwis downunder are amazed when December comes around.

There's not a drop of snow in sight, no fires crackling, no need for mittens and coats. It's bikinis and board wax. The surfs up. Mind you, so are the mosquitos. The BBQ is out. Summer is here down under and so is Christmas.

However, while our northern hemisphere cousins are cruising into Christmas mode with mulled wine, for those of us downunder it's a hectic round of year-end parties, organizing the annual holidays, Christmas shopping in 90 degree heat and lining up the kids for the Santa photo who, poor fellow, is sweltering under all that fake beard and fury hat. For years I've wondered why it's just so frantic and crazy at this time of year, then it was pointed out to me. This is our end of the year. New Zealand closes up for January.

Most families take their annual holidays, school is out for two months or more and so it's not just a round of Christmas parties, its tying up all the loose ends for a variety of things, above and beyond Christmas.

In New Zealand it's beaches and roadsides covered in the glorious frothy red flowering native Pohutukawa tree. It beaches full, sun, sand, surf, going to the bach (a colloquial name for a ramshackle holiday home). It's waking up on Christmas morning watching the neighbourhood kids racing their brand new bikes, going to the beach for Christmas dinner of salads and cold meats, some families gathering around a hangi (a method of cooking food in the ground). New Zealand Christmases are a conglomeration of cultures and traditions.

For years, our family sat down to a turkey and hot side dishes, but now as we're aged (considerably) no one can be bothered and it's salads all round.

However, you can't delete all traditions and still the table groans under the mound of kumara pie (sweet potato) and Pavlova - a meringue desert with lots of whipped cream topped, of course, with kiwifruit. Christmas down under isn't the same without Pavlova.

In years gone by, New Zealand clung to it's English/European heritage and traditions. This millennium sees not a snippet of plastic holly, nor artificial spray painted windows. Instead the trees are decorated with the blues and greens of the paua shell (abalone), and a myriad of bright colors, while buckets and spades are bereft of snow, but golden sand.

With New Zealand seeing each new day first, the jolly red fellow arrives to all the sleeping New Zealand children in the dark of night, albeit dressed in red shorts and t-shirt and a pair of black gumboots on his feet, and riding a beach buggy rather than a sleigh.

We used to joke that born and bred Kiwis don't do the beach on Christmas Day, it was only for those for whom it was a novelty, but more and more of our four million strong country spend the day relaxing, swimming, surfing sailing. Auckland isn't called the City of Sails for nothing and you see - it's always summer at Christmas time.

Note:  Stop by and read our interview with Jane in the Romance Authors Corner at Jane Beckenham!