Category Archives: Christmas

Christmas time memories…

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This Christmas I was reflecting on the family tradition of lunch on Christmas Day.

It is a day when everyone who is available on my Dad’s side of the family comes together and celebrates Christmas.

The tradition started before I was even born as out of my cousin’s, I’m the third youngest but this tradition has been going for over 60 years with my older cousin’s.

When I was born, we’d go see my Mum’s family for Christmas lunch and then go to my Dad’s parents, my Grandparents house, for Christmas Dinner, which was always a bbq cooked by Grandpa and being Australia, we would eat outside in the backyard and then after eating some Christmas pudding (Grandpa would put sixpences in the pudding too) and custard, we’d even get a bottle of Coke from Grandpa to drink in glass bottles, not plastic bottles like now and you needed a bottle cap opener because there was no screw top cap. After we had our bottles of Coke, my cousin’s and I would go for a walk around the area and wish everyone we saw a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as we walked the streets going to one of the many playgrounds in the area. Thank you Daylight Savings time as well for the play time at the playground!

As time went on and Grandpa and Grandma got too old to host the family Christmas Dinner, an Aunty and Uncle took over. They only lived 3 doors down from my Grandparents home, which was convenient as their fridge was used to store some of the food to be eaten on Christmas Day.

As the years have gone by, the family Christmas Dinner has now become the family Christmas lunch with everyone who is available comes for lunch.

My Uncle and Aunty, they hosted all of us for Christmas Dinner, which one year turned into Christmas lunch and from that Christmas to now, it has remained Christmas Day lunch, for many years before my Aunty decided she had enough and felt someone else should take it over.

Another Uncle and Aunty, they hosted all of us for 3 Christmas Day lunches before one of my cousin’s said they will hold Christmas lunch at their house.

So now Christmas lunch is rotated around the homes of 3 of my cousin’s as they have the indoor space and backyard space to have us all there.

When my second cousin’s were born, that started new traditions in the family as they grew and embraced what is family Christmas lunch and now they are adults, I hope they continue keeping the lunch as a tradition, especially when they meat future partners and start having children of their own.

Over the last 53 years, the time I have been alive, we’ve had loved one’s pass away, there has been family breakdowns and family separations where some members of the family no longer come to family Christmas lunch but I still think about every single person not there joining us.

I think about the people who have passed away; Grandpa and Grandma, both my parents, 2 of my aunties – one of them passed away earlier this year and this is the first Christmas without her, a “cousin in law”. I think about those who don’t come to Christmas lunch even though they have a long standing invitation but don’t join in – family breakdowns can be a bitch but in this situation, I completely understand why and I hope all the people involved are happy with their chosen families, that’s all I ask for.

On Christmas Day, I love cracking open a bon bon to read the bad jokes, wear the paper hat and see what crap toy there is. I love eating Christmas pudding with custard and ice cream, I love singing along to the music playing as we gather and getting into a singing war with who can sing a song better, my cousin’s and I or the younger generation, especially the song, Do they Know it’s Christmas?

I remember when my Aunty and Uncle took over from Grandpa and Grandma having the family at their house for Christmas Dinner and all the cousins, we’d be in my cousin’s bedroom singing along with the songs playing loudly on her record player. Do they Know It’s Christmas? was a favourite when it first was released all those years ago and we cousin’s sang it loudly.  Sorry Next Gen Cousins but we’re always going to sing that song better than you ever will!

I hope that when my cousin’s and I are no longer around, that their kids and future generations keep the tradition of Christmas family lunch going and I know they will because they are tight and best friends.

What family traditions do you have at Christmas time? Let me know in the comments.

Merry Christmas everyone from my family to yours.

Until next time

Kaye x

Christmas in Australia…

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Most people around the world associate snow and cold weather at Christmas time, well, here in Australia it’s quite the opposite as it’s summer time here.

In Australia Christmas is different… we have the option of having our Christmas breakfast, lunch or dinner’s outside in a backyard, a beach, a park for instance. Pubs are open for Christmas lunch as well and it’s something you have to book weeks in advance as they book out quickly.

Even the food we eat on Christmas Day can vary from the traditional Christmas foods to having seafood, a barbecue, or a pub meal.

In my family, we all meet for Christmas lunch at a family member’s house and we all contribute something for the meal, whether it be a part of the meal or money to help cover costs. We eat outdoors under cover. A few of the members of the family bring food they cooked so the host isn’t cooking the whole main lunch.

Bowls of chips (crisps), mixed nuts, Christmas lollies (candy) are put out on the table before lunch to tide us over until lunch is ready. Our menu usually consists of turkey (cut up turkey roll), rotisserie chicken (from a fish and chip shop which was previously ordered for the lunch), leg ham, roast potatoes (cooked in a Webber Barbecue), roasted carrots, peas, beans, potato salad, noodle salad, coleslaw and bread rolls. A couple of hours later it’s the traditional Christmas pudding or for those who don’t like Christmas puddings there’s a chocolate pudding with either custard or ice cream on top.

Our food is buffet style where you go and get your own food and put it on a plate, then go sit down and enjoy. We use paper plates and disposable knives and forks to save on washing up.

After Christmas, the young ones and a few of the adults go for a walk to a nearby park and kick either a soccer ball or a footy around.

Christmas for my family is really just another day as we no longer have kids in the family but it is still a fun day to get together with everyone and I only get to see my family one day of the year.

The weather can be mild temperatures in the mid 20’s to the early 40’s degrees Celsius. On Christmas Day in 2016, the temperature reached a scorching hot 40 degrees Celsius and our lunch was moved indoors as it was too hot to sit outside. Me personally, I’ll take the weather in the mid 20’s on Christmas Day.

However you celebrate Christmas and whoever you celebrate Christmas with, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Until next time

Kaye

The Magic of Christmas…

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One of my favourite times of the year is Christmas. I love everything about Christmas, the Christmas music, the Christmas decorations, the Christmas tree, the feeling of Christmas time, all of it; it’s just a magical time of the year.

During the week, I had a friend currently living in the US ask me if there were any Christmas movies made in Australia depicting what our Christmases are like and if it was weird living in Australia where it’s Summer at Christmas time and watching all the Christmas movies with snow in them.

I replied to my friend, no it wasn’t weird as snow is associated with Christmas as that is how most of the world celebrates Christmas; it’s winter and there’s snow around. Watching Christmas movies with snow is just normal for us.

Celebrating Christmas here in Australia where it’s summer has its advantages though. We can have a meal outdoors if it’s not too hot. We can go to the beach, splash in a pool, go to a playground, walk around the neighbourhood wishing people we come across a Merry Christmas, have a bbq, eat seafood, do things that people in a colder climate don’t do at Christmas time.

The one thing I don’t enjoy about Christmas and summer is when it’s too hot to do anything outside.

Regardless of where you are in the world this Christmas, whether it’s in the winter with the snow or summer with the heat, I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Until next time

Kaye

Christmas memories…

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I don’t know about you but I love Christmas time. I love everything about Christmas from watching one of my favourite Christmas movies, Love Actually, to listening to all the Christmas carols and songs to do with Christmas. I love giving Christmas presents to people. I love the Christmas foods associated with Christmas. I love getting together with family and celebrating Christmas.

Growing up, my family would go to my grandparents house on my Dad’s side of the family and have tea (or dinner) with the whole family gathered there from my grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a fun time.

Granpa would cook a barbecue outside and granma, with the help of her daughters, my aunty’s, would get everything else to eat ready for our meal. Then once it was already prepared and cooked, we’d sit outside on the grass or on chairs and eat. Being in Australia, Christmas is during our Summer, so we are able to do that.

After the main meal, consisting of chicken, ham, turkey, roast carrots, roast potatoes, beans and peas, there would be Christmas pudding with custard and/or ice cream. Granpa would put sixpences in the pudding for us kids to find and then he’d exchange for our current currency we have now. (As a side note, Australia was using the imperial currency of pounds, shillings and pence until 14 February 1966 when it went to the currency we use now). After tea was eaten, we kids got a bottle of Coke each, not a plastic bottle with a screw top either but a glass bottle with a top you needed a bottle cap remover for (one of my uncle and aunty’s lived a few doors down from my grandparents house and there metal fence came in handy for removing the caps from the bottle as well). Before tea, my cousins and I would go for a walk to one of the many playgrounds around my grandparents house and spend time there playing on the equipment. It was always a great time.

When my grandparents became too old to have all the family over and do much of the preparation and cooking for Christmas tea, my Aunty and uncle who lived a few doors down took over and the family tradition continued. I also remember all of us cousins being in one of my cousins bedrooms and singing along to songs playing on her record player. We still know all the words to the Band Aid songs “Do they know it’s Christmas” and “Happy Christmas/War is over” among many others we used to sing along to. We can also sing any Abba song going as well.

As the years have passed, my grandparents have both now gone, as have my parents and so have other family members. Several of my cousins have gotten married or met that someone special and have families of their own now but the tradition still lives on.

Now, there’s 3 of my cousins, they have houses big enough to host the whole family on Christmas Day and their families, who share having all the family over for Christmas lunch these days. The whole family still comes together and now my second cousins are a part of it all. The tradition is still going strong.

I hope that my second cousins keep the tradition going as they get older, just like the older generations in the family have kept it going. For all these years.

One Christmas my second cousins thought they could out sing their parents, second cousins, aunts and uncles. They soon learned that we could still out sing them, especially when Happy Christmas/War is over started playing.

Whatever Christmas means to you, may you be able to celebrate the season with your loved ones. Make memories, cherish those gathered together around the table, enjoy making the meals that will be shared. Remember those who are no longer sitting at the table. Be blessed.

Merry Christmas to you all who are reading this and thank you.

Christmas blessings to you all

Until next time

Kaye