It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas: fake Christmas trees and Santa hats, palm trees wrapped in evergreen garlands and the shopping mall Santa looking not that jolly. Who can blame him – with temperatures rising, none of the traditional signs of Christmas make much sense down here. So why not celebrate the season with all the beautiful things Australia has to offer.
It started early. Really early. On July 25, to be exact. I had just arrived in Sydney and was greeted by Yulefest and Christmas Markets. Beachside skating and Winter Magic. Christmas in July. It’s thing in southern hemisphere countries like Australia. Happens in the middle of (the Australian) winter in addition to the real deal in December. New Zealand and South Africa do it and so did my school: Christmas Market at the German International School Sydney.
Maybe the coolest month of the year, but with temperatures around 20 degrees, sunshine and bright blue skies, July still did not exactly feel very christmassy to me. Which made practising Christmas carols and creating festive decorations with the students feel kind of weird. Waffles and German sausage, Glühwein (hot mulled wine) and Christmas carols. A bizarre, and almost surreal, yet surprisingly pleasant event in my new home away from home.
Fast forward a few months. Christmas all over. The real thing this time. The feeling even more strange and unreal. It is hard to get into the Christmas spirit with heat waves and bushfires, water restrictions and smoke in the air. Yet, there are sure signs all around me, signalling the arrival of the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas season – Australian style.
First sign of Christmas: Halloween is over!
Just like back home, Halloween rings in the beginning of the Christmas season in Down under. Should have known that this year everything would be different when looking at the way Halloween was celebrated here. Where I’m from, Halloween is a day where you can dress up as whatever you like. It’s a fantasy and you can be, even if just for a day, anything you always wanted to be. I dressed up as an angel obviously! Australian costumes, however, are all about the blood and the gore. We had little ones starting to cry when they saw my colleagues dressed up like what could have been the survivors of a chainsaw massacre. Good thing we had an angel present to comfort the traumatised students.
Second sign of Christmas: Santa at the beach
The infamous Bouddi Trail Run. The final stretch along the beach. In the distance the faint silhouette of a familiar bright red hat. Was is hallucinating already or was that really Santa Claus standing in the sand? Yup, fully cloaked in his trademark coat, with his white long beard and big black boots. I wanted to snap a picture, but I had a race to finish. Christmas and the beach go hand in hand together in Australia. Sandman vs snowman. Surfing vs skating. Board shorts vs red suit. Thongs vs boots. Someone get this poor hot fellow a pair of those!
Third sign of Christmas: Christmas attire
You won’t see anyone wearing ugly Christmas sweaters, because there really is not too many people wearing sweaters in this weather anyway. Or anything, really. No shirt, no shoes, no pants… I’ve seen it all at my local grocery store! You will, however, spot an increasing number of people sporting Christmas hats and reindeer antlers, Christmas shaped sunnies and Snowman Hawaiian Shirts. Board shorts and thongs and a Santa hat. Merry Christmas everyone!
Fourth sign of Christmas: Christmas decorations
Decorating your house for Christmas can be a bit of a competitive sport back home. Having been called The House of no Christmas, needless to say that I am not a big fan of blinking Christmas lights and inflatable Santas on my lawn. I like the subtle way of decorating your home in Australia: ferns and palm leaves, evergreens and sea shells. Colourful flowers like the Christmas Bush, gorgeous blooms everywhere. And, yes, the obligatory small plastic tree on front porch.
Fifth sign of Christmas: Christmas treats
Choccie (chocolate) and lollies (candy). Gingerbread houses. Tim Tam bikkies in the staff room. Not only is it Christmas soon, but report card time, and anything sweet goes to help you make it to the holidays. A crate full of cherries, lemon tarts and mince pie. And, of course, delicious fruity pavlova dessert.
The Sixth Sign of Christmas: Christmas Markets and Carols by Candlelight
You won’t find much mulled wine and gingerbread cookies at the local Christmas Markets, but you will encounter plenty of Christmas cheer. And if you want, you can do so every weekend leading up to Christmas. Starting at the top of the Northern Beaches, you have the Palm Beach Market, Avalon Market, Newport Market, Mona Vale Xmas Market and so on, all the way down to Sydney with its famous Christmas market at The Rocks. Though the locations may change, the idea is always the same. A vast array of stalls selling fashion, jewellery, and crafts. Gourmet food stalls and pretty good live music. And if that’s not enough to get you in the spirit, there are Christmas Carol Concerts as well, with young and old singing favourite tunes by the light of the setting (bright orange) sun and candle light.
The Seventh Sign of Christmas: Christmas Songs
Teaching kids in Australia traditional Christmas songs can be a challenge sometimes. How do you explain snow slowly falling (Leise rieselt der Schnee) or trees losing their leaves in the fall (Oh Tannenbaum)? And don’t get my started on Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer. Shouldn’t it be kangaroos pulling that sleigh (Six White Boomers) or Santa riding on a surfboard? And why are we leaving milk and cookies, err, I mean bikkies, if a roadie (beer for the road) and a sangie (sandwich) would be so much better for Santa on the go?
The Eighth Sign of Christmas: The Family Christmas Party
The porch beautifully decorated with fern leaves and fairy lights, tables set for lunch outside, Secret Santa presents piled around the small fake Christmas tree, the sound of the ocean and cicadas in the distance (the screaming of the kookaburra, however, painfully near). And yes, I kid you not, shrimps on the barbie! My dreams of an Australian family Christmas coming true.
The Ninth Sign of Christmas: The Staff Christmas Party
After a few stressful weeks at school with exams and report card writing, concert rehearsals and regular melt downs (from both students and staff), this was exactly what I needed: nicely decorated tables set against the backdrop of the beach and the ocean sea. The sun setting in a bushfiry orange haze. And to make it the perfect night to celebrate with my colleagues and friends – dolphins jumping playfully close to the shoreline (again, I’m not making this up!). The perfect ending to a long semester.
When people are usually looking forward to Christmas and summer and school holidays, this year the outlook might not be as sunny and bright. With almost 150 fires in the region still burning, producing smoke and dust that create at times hazardous air quality ratings, there might be the fear that Australia is heading towards ominous times. With children at school complaining of headaches, sore throats, watering eyes and nose bleeds, the stereotypical beachside Australian summer still seems a long way off.
I often get asked, how all this affects me and my time in Sydney. And sadly, I have to admit, you get used to anything fairly quickly. Waking up to the smell of smoke in the morning sometimes, the rising sun above the ocean a deep dark red from the dust particles in the air, smoke clouds covering the blue sky, turning it into a hazy orange glow.
But yet there is so much beauty this place has to offer, especially during this time of year. The beautiful colours everywhere, bright orange mangoes, pink watermelons and deep dark red cherries, the smell of flowers blossoming, the sounds of the ocean and the cicadas waking up.
I love this place. Merry Christmas everyone!
Thoughts From the Upside Down 