Christmas

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, especially those of you still celebrating. We had a hot sunny day in the Wairarapa, and it was lots of fun spending time with the family. Charlie's gone back to Wellington for work, but I'm going to stay on until Wednesday and enjoy the sun. Below are a few photos from yesterday, and click over to my Instagram for more Christmas snaps.

Mum, Emily, Charlie and I eating a breakfast of croissants (Dad's behind the camera)

Glamorously putting on earrings from Mum and Dad

Emily's Dear Colleen All Blacks tea towel from Charlie and I

With my Dad's side of the family at Christmas dinner

Christmas Q&A

Angel made from a Readers' Digest, see question six. Thanks to Dad for the photo. And the face too, if I recall correctly.

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Have never tried egg nog. Neither of these is a particularly common Christmas drink here to my knowledge- you'd most likely find me sipping on a lemonade or beer.

Colored lights on tree/house or white? Decorating your home with lights is getting more popular every year, but we just have a few on the tree at my parents' house and sometimes fairy lights in a window.

Favorite Holiday memory as a child? I remember my sister and I woke up in the wee hours and checked our sacks, and we'd been given those elastics you play skipping games with. So we tested them out and all the jumping around woke up our parents.

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't really remember. I was suspicious for a while, but didn't really want to know the truth. It was something that crept up on me, rather than a shocking discovery.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope, not allowed! But Charlie and I are so bad at presents- as soon as we buy each other something we end up giving it that day.

What tops your tree? Used to be an angel I made out of a Reader's Digest when I was about nine years old, but I think it's probably too heavy for my parents' artificial one now.

Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving. Of course I like getting presents, but we very much unwrap presents one-at-a-time, so you're really in the spotlight when unwrapping something!

What is your favorite Christmas song? The Pogues' Fairytale of New York and Cliff Richard's Mistletoe and Wine. And I'm one of those people who never tires of Snoopy's Christmas. My favourite carol is We Three Kings of Orient Are, mainly because of the Fred Dagg version Dad used to sing... sorry, can't find it on YouTube

Favorite gift received as a child? A Hunchback of Notre Dame Esmeralda doll. I'd wanted it for ages.

Hardest person to buy for? Kind-of Charlie, because he's a little picky (it's okay, I've told him this). But he's also easy if I just wanna get him Batman and/or Bearbrick stuff for every event.

Easiest person to buy for? My sister, Emily. I really like what I've bought her this year!

Favorite Christmas movie? Does The Holiday count? That was on TV the other night and I really love Kate Winslet. I think Miracle on 34th Street was my favourite as a kid.

When do you start shopping for Christmas? I bought for Charlie and Emily earlier this month, but still haven't done any more! I do have some ideas though and will go after work today. I hate crowds, so I am my own worst enemy leaving it so late.

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Everything. Chocolate and cherries and croissants and ham and trifle and salads and just eating, all day.

Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? I admit I Googled to find out how many there are (nine), and could name Dancer, Prancer, Donna, Blitzen, Rudolph, Comet and Vixen. Forgot Dasher, didn't even know there was a Cupid.

Most annoying thing about this time of year? Children, everywhere, on summer holiday. Actually no, in the city children aren't so bad, it's the tweens and teens that really get to me. JUST SHUT UP. And walk two abreast on the footpath, max. You shrill, inconsiderate, well-dressed fools.

What do you want for Christmas this year? I realised this too late to ask for it, but I want one of those vapour e-cigarettes. Will buy one this week, I think. I think not smoking at work will be reasonably easy, and then I can use that at home with Charlie until hopefully I don't want to any more. The Quit website quiz indicated it's the habit rather than nicotine addiction for me and I think I agree (I do have some nicotine stuff at home already just in case though). We'll see. Tobacco tax is going up again on New Year's Day, meaning a price increase of 14.6%. FML, pretty much. Anyway, how did this Christmas Q&A take such a grim turn? I don't really like asking for gifts any more, I just told Charlie to get me 'something cute', and he's given me polka-dot lanterns I wanted and a beautiful sketchbook (told you we suck at waiting to give gifts).

Christmas, down here.

I originally started writing this post to use on a blog based elsewhere in the world, but I decided enough of my regular readers are based in the Northern Hemisphere to justify just leaving it here. It's also become a little more casual since I made that decision, because, you know, a guest post is pretty much the equivalent of a film trailer. And you guys have already bought tickets.

First of all, something I never realised until I was pretty much an adult is that the entire world doesn't use the same world map. It always kind of puzzled me as a child how so many American people on TV could have NO IDEA where Australia and New Zealand were*, when to me they were a fairly prominent cluster of islands right in the middle of a ring of large land masses. Once I learned (relatively recently) that I'd grown up with Pacific-centric maps my whole life**, this confusion made a lot more sense.

The World as I've known it.

Anyway, I swear this post is about Christmas. I just sometimes worry that this blog gets too "here's some little-known facts about New Zealand!" because I've spent my whole life being told no one knows anything about us. And I'm not well-traveled. So if this is accurate then, great! I have a purpose. But if you already know all this then feel free to tell me. Politely.

So. As I said in my recent grizzle about the weather, December falls at the beginning of summer here, meaning Christmas is celebrated in what I imagine is a very different way to those up north.

For school children, Christmas means the end of the school year and the beginning of around six weeks of summer holidays, so growing up it was an especially exciting time. I imagine it's difficult for teachers to handle any child towards the end of a school year, but combine that with hype about Christmas presents and things can get a little crazy. I grew up going to a Christian school, so the religious aspect of the festive season was a significant part of my experience.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas day, the majority of shopping outlets are filled with Christmas decorations you're probably all familiar with; faux evergreen trees (if we want a 'real' tree, Monterey Pines are available), candy canes, Father Christmas, and snowflakes; despite the fact most shoppers will be filling their baskets while dressed in shorts and jandals. 'Winter wonderland'-type displays fill many shop windows, and most Christmas cards depict wintry themes too. In addition to this, there are a lot of locally made products which showcase Christmas symbols relevant to New Zealanders. A dressed-up Kiwi at the beach, wearing a Santa hat has become an iconic image here. The Pōhutukawa tree blooms in summer, and is referred to here as our 'native Christmas tree'. Cherries are ripe during December, and my family eats our way through a box of those every year.

Some families have a more 'traditional' Christmas meal with poultry and hot vegetables, while others have more outdoor-friendly barbeques- my extended family switches between the two. Most people who own baches (beach houses) will retreat there for the break, often through until the New Year. Since New Zealand is made up of islands, everyone lives less than 75 miles (exactly 119.44 kilometers, apparently) from the beach and it is a big part of our Christmas culture.

Tell me about your Christmas?

The public "tree" in my city.

* This is something that as a country we apparently love to watch. There are multiple videos on YouTube of New Zealanders quizzing unsuspecting Americans about their knowledge of our tiny little country, and taking great delight in mocking those who don't know the answers. Every time a 'famous' New Zealander ventures overseas with a camera crew, the same thing happens. I'm hoping it's a small-nation trait we share with others.

** These maps may be commonly used elsewhere, I have no idea. I'm just saying, that's pretty much all that's used here.

World map image source.

Wellington tree image source.