Christmas are around the corner. It’s not my first Christmas here. In fact, I counted it and this is going to be my third Christmas in New Zealand. Third or tenth, on Christmas Day I will miss again roofs covered in snow and the atmosphere I remember when I was a child. Not talking about Santa Claus, I have no idea where that guy comes from and what it’s all about. So thinking about this I came to conclusion that I have two options. Either I can sit and complain that Christmas here will never be like back home or I can try to sum up what are advantages of Christmas in the middle of the summer. Option 2 is my choice!
1. Weather. Ok, I won’t have snow and most likely won’t be able to build snowman with my kids at Christmas here, but…I don’t have to wrap myself up in layers like onion because it’s cold outside or even freezing. Whatever the weather will be this Christmas, I’m quite sure there’ll be no need for winter coat, scarf or mittens.
2. I just read an article that people living in Northern Hemisphere in last years prefer to spend Christmas in exotic destaninations instead in the mountains. How much money I’m going to save this year? No need of buying holiday on some remote island. I’m on the island. Let me look at the map of the world. Hmmm, looks pretty far away from everything else. Closest continent: Australia, 4,155 km, this location is remote enough. What do I need to do if I want spend Christmas on the beach? Oh, that’s right, just jump in the car. I don’t even need to look for my passport!
3. Long long time ago me and my friends used to celebrate Christmas in the summer. Please don’t ask me why. It was in July, means summer over there. As far as I can remember (it seems I don’t remember all the bits and pieces of those ‘celebrations’) it was about barbecue, fun and gathering with friends. I have a vague memory of having Christmas tree one year as well. I can’t recall if it was like ‘hooray, it’s already 6 months since Christmas’ or ‘hooray, it’s just 6 months to Christmas’. Now I’m trying to remember why am I mentioning this…
4. Presents. When I was a child, the main celebrations were held on the evening of Christmas Eve. Being a kid, imagine you’re waiting the whole December and when you finally get there, you have to wait till evening to get your presents. Here you get presents in the morning on Christmas Day. Straight from bed to the tree and presents are yours!
I’m sure there’s more to it than what I wrote here. I got it! The best advantage of the Christmas here. Do you know how they sell all these Christmas decorations and all that Christmas stuff nearly 2 or 3 months before Christmas? And how does it make you feel that you should start buying presents if you don’t have any yet and you should start getting ready for the holidays? Guess what! It’s the same here. ‘Christmas spirit’ is in the air for at least month now. And I don’t care! No stress, they won’t get me no matter how much glittery stuff they’ll try to sell. Because to get stressed about it I need to be wrapped like an onion and feel the snowflakes falling on my face, this is not going to happen here. So very merry Christmas everyone, let it be all stress free!