Christmas Around the World

Where and how do you celebrate your Christmas? I have celebrated Christmas in numerous countries around the world......each with lasting memories.

While many countries celebrate Christmas........ each has their own cultural festivities to mark the occasion . Traditionally people think of Christmas as a winter celebration.But for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere we celebrate Christmas in the heat of summer.....while dreaming of a White Christmas and sending each other cards that have snow scenes!

Christmas in New Caledonia

My first international Christmas was in New Caledonia where I was staying with a French expatriate family for six weeks. They had a very delicious celebratory meal....I remember couscous chicken, and a delicious dessert with brandied fruit in a mousse type mixture contained inside a sponge cake exterior.

However....they didn't have gift giving around a tree as we were used to.Early evening I pulled my gifts out and distributed them to my host family realising the bottle of lavender water we 4 girls had been given when we were still in bed was it.

Christmas in Australia

My next Christmas was in Australia....where the traditional Christmas originates from England...but for many immigrant families also from Europe.

My cousin and I stayed with friends for Christmas Eve. The father was a band conductor........ so we toured the streets with the band as they played their carols to the last minute shoppers hurrying through the crowded streets.Our first experience of carolling!

The week had been hot and the crowd in Sydney's main street was so bad you had to
decide well in advance which shop you wanted to enter....... then start manouvering across the footpath.... hoping you weren't swept past the door before you could get there.Coming from a smaller population it was a new experience for me to be in such a crowd.

Christmas morning we all got up and after breakfast..... sat around the tree as gifts were exchanged between the family members. I still have my treasured gold souvenir teaspoon with an opal inset tucked away.My cousin and I then spent the day on the beach and had Christmas dinner in a restaurant.

Christmas in New York...New York!

My dream of a white Christmas has never happened despite being in the right place at the right time on two or three occasions. My USA Christmas in New York should have been a definite date for a white Christmas! But being a late winter........ the snow arrived a week later!

However..... I was entranced by the beautiful lights displayed on all the houses, the front yards and in the streets and department stores. At that time 1972 ....New Zealand had little in the way of exterior Christmas displays. We now have some lovely streets where the neighbours all co-operate to make a display for the community to share.But certainly not as wide spread as in the States.

I enjoyed a family Christmas with my aunt and uncle in New York and it was fascinating for me to accompany them in the cold to Midnight Church.... then tour around the various neighbours homes sharing eggnog before heading home to turkey and a traditional New Zealand style Christmas dinner....which originates from an English Christmas - turkey and roast vegetables, Christmas Pudding with brandy sauce, trifle, mince pies.....nuts....sweets....

Christmas in England - Pontin's Holiday Camp

Living in England where I was teaching.... I had been intrigued by my children disappearing for a week at a time throughout summer to go to either a Butlin's or Pontin's Holiday camp for their summer holidays.

I applied to waitress in a Pontin's Holiday Camp in Bournemouth.....thinking I could explore the town in my time off.

We took the train down from London, were given uniforms on arrival and the work began. It was the longest days you could imagine.....breakfast....lunch...and there was rarely more than an hour of time off each afternoon before we were back serving dinners.

Christmas dinner consisted of 7....yes seven courses! The cutlery had to be spaced with thumb knuckle measurements. And the clientele were demanding!I remember one of us being sent off into the bowels of the building to find one triangle of blue cheese.This man would not rest till it arrived!

Evenings....and the holiday makers played games, got dressed up,participated in competitions and generally had a similar experience to that of being on a cruise.Hi De Hi was a very apt depiction of the experience! I caught the train home exhausted!

Christmas in the Sahara - Algeria

Next came my Christmas in the Sahara Stuck in the Sahara desert while our driver flew to London to get Algerian visas for we New Zealanders and an Austrian couple..... we were camping on the outskirts of Tammanrasset.

Click the link to read the story. It was a Christmas to remember....... although the differences in Christmas cuisine was experienced as the Europeans in our group tasted the English Christmas puddings our driver had hidden away in anticipation. They couln't eat them! Very rich with dried fruit, brandy and served with custard they could not understand why we... for whom it was a tradition... were drooling with anticipation.

Christmas in New Zealand

Then came a few family Christmases in New Zealand. Our extended family got together with grandparents, aunts, uncles and an ever increasing swag of children.

First the gifts were given out from under the Christmas tree.A BBQ lunch outside would follow. While the others enjoyed their new treasures... the ladies set to to cook a full Christmas dinner with turkey, baked ham, roast vegetables followed by Christmas pudding with custard, trifle, fruits salad, strawberries, ice cream, jelly.Sweets, muscatels, chocolates.........After the presents it was a lot about food! Mostly once a year treats to be savoured

Christmas in Samoa

Christmas in Samoa is much more the traditional Christian festival.Children's Day in October is when they receive gifts and have a special meal.

We returned to New Zealand for Christmas, but in the lead up I was aware there was little for all the young expatriates living there in the way of decorations, Santa and carol singing that they would have experienced at home. So I organised a Christmas party for more than a 100 parents and children.

We pulled out the piano and sang carols...while Santa....a friend suitably attired in his full Santa suit.... was driven throuugh the streets of Apia by my husband....perspiration pouring off him being around 34+degrees celsius!.

Leaning out the window of the truck with a Vailima beer in his hand to cool off... he had the local children transfixed.They had never seen the like before!

The decorated Norfolk pine outside the kitchen caused a moment of terror as three young boys decided to light the paper decorations! Fortunately, we managed to put the fire out before too much damage ensued....the tinder dry wooden house only a meter away would have gone up pretty quickly!

Christmas in Fiji

We had two Christmases in Fiji.The first was within weeks of us arriving and I spent the day cooking the traditional fare for the four of us.

The next year I was keen to relax myself.Others expressed a similar desire.So I organised Christmas dinner for 40 in a local hotel in Nadi. It was just lovely.The children with their little friends were all sat down to their special Christmas dinner.

Dinner over..... some staff whisked them off in a van to tour around the countryside.... entertaining them as they went. There was an audible sigh of relief as they filed out the door and the adults took their place at the tables to enjoy a traditional meal.....waited on hand and foot by the ever friendly smiling Fijian staff!

Christmas since have mostly been at home...our Czech exchange student was intrigued with the whole turkey and huge ham which we enjoyed under sun umbrellas, outside on our deck with extended family.It was a little different to his traditional fare of carp and potato salad.

Our children continue the tradition with Christmas celebrated in other parts and bringing partners from other parts to celebrate New Zealand style. This year one in his home in Japan....the other on Jeju Island South Korea.


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