Christmas in Summer: How Aussies Have Given Their Own Twist To The Traditional Christmas Recipe

Australians celebrate Christmas in the searing summer heat, often with the air conditioning on, so that the Christmas meal does spoil. It is also a wonderful opportunity to catch up with family and friends who you may not have seen for a while. With not a snowflake in sight and not rugged up against the zero temperatures, Aussies cater for Christmas in their own true blue style!

Christmas Day Venue

Camping, bbq, beach, in fact, anything outdoors is the way a lot of Aussies celebrate Christmas. Beach or backyard cricket often rules after Christmas lunch! If you prefer to escape the intense scorching heat, many gather family and friends around for a Christmas lunch or dinner in the comfort of their home decked out with all the Christmas trimmings and decorations.

The Christmas Banquet

The traditional Christmas feast of hot roast vegetables, plump roast and stuffed turkey and cranberry sauce often gives way to a meal to suit Australian conditions. Often a cold buffet is served with turkey, fresh Australian prawns, a mixture of salads and delicious desserts. Some people still like the traditional plum pudding with custard and brandy sauce, but many forego this and in its place have fresh seasonal fruit such as cherries, plums, watermelon and mangoes. Also, to tantalise tastebuds, white Christmas and rich pavlova piled high with whipped cream and fruit is added to Christmas banquet.

Christmas Lights

Many houses in Australia are festooned with bright Christmas lights. Neighbours often get together and organise to have each house in the street decorated with Christmas lights which can culminate in a neighbourhood street party. Highly decorated houses also enter a competition to see which house has the most Christmas spirit. Tour companies operate bus trips to highlight the competition winners.

Christmas Day Attire

Most Aussies opt for casual attire on Christmas Day to deal with the blistering heat. Shorts and thongs are often chosen for comfort, but whatever your attire, comfort is the name of the game in Australia at Christmas time.

On Vacation

Christmas is traditionally vacation time in Australia. It is when the school children have their longest break of the year, so a lot of families choose to go away for a few weeks or have a short break over the Christmas/New Year period. However you choose to spend this time, whether it be camping or relaxing in a unit by the beach, Christmas will be a peaceful, although fun, time away from all the stress of day to day life.

Christmas the Aussie way is quite different to how those in the Northern Hemisphere celebrate Christmas. Australians don’t know what it’s like to have a cold snowy Christmas, although many of them dream of experiencing it! Old age traditions are still kept in place for years and years, such as a Christmas tree,Christmas stockings

or Santa bags and Christmas decorations and every capital city in Australia hosts a Carols By Candlelight. Thousands of people attend these carols to join in the spirit of Christmas and to listen to some of Australia’s biggest stars singing traditional and modern carols.