youngy73

try the all in package for around $130 on green island next year. well worth it.

sammyg

Well, we are still in Beautiful, old idylic blighty and we had the traditional family christmas with the whole dinner etc and i must say... when we get to aus i will try to remember the fact that CHRISTMAS IS SihT!!!!

....we had a nice time while watching daughter open her presents BUT that is where it ends.!

I am not a christian, so do not enjoy christmas for the true meaning of christmas. Unfortunately, i am amongst others, one that gets swept up with the hype!! (although we don't spend hundreds on food and toys!!!...like some do) and i have now had enough.

I know that people tend to believe that the grass is greener in aus, but sometimes, when it comes to times like christmas some people in aus tend to believe the snow is whiter here!!!! and ohh my it isn't

Possums

well I was doing fine, we had a good run up to xmas with various functions etc started getting into the spirit of it all. xmas morning was lovely opening pressies and a nice walk on the beach, then I discovered an email from family with a video message from everyone wishing us merry christmas etc it just killed me

felt a bit better by yesterday then a parcel came from a rellie, Monopoly Sheffield edition and that set me off again LOL

dont get me wrong we had a great day on xmas day, good company, food & drink, the weather was gorgeous etc but it just wasnt christmas.

sammyg

I can understand some people may feel that they are missing out on an 'english' (!) christmas...big, close family etc - i am sure these people will find it hard in a very different country/culture

Personally, we can't wait to get there as we don't fit this steoreotype and are looking to forward to christmas without the hype, but with the sun, pools, beaches and barbies instead - BRING IT ON i say!

(weather permitting, but it can't be any worse than here)

Here's to next christmas - only 362 days to go!!

rabsody

With all due respect, I'm sure many of the above felt the way you do before they got here. You may be surprised at things you might miss/feel when you actually get here. I've been here 7 years and still miss an English christmas and, believe me, I could not wait to get out here.

On the other hand, you might be one of the lucky ones who miss nothing at all!

jackass

thats sounds interesting - thanks! im all for getting someone else to do the cooking and washing up

Mipik

As I have lived abroad for many years and some of them in countries where there is no Xmass I have learned to avoid all the hype.

Our first Xmass here last year we went camping, had a few simple meals but plenty of time to stay together.

This year weather cleared just a day before and we went camping as well.

Saves all the stress of cooking/washing and a great way to relax and enjoy being a family.

St.Georges Girl

Are you lost?

I was the same. I knew I'd miss my family and dear friends, but couldn't begin to comprehend just how much. I dreamed of spending Xmas in a warm climate, taking our son to the beach and being in our pool, but the reality is oh so different, especially when your children get older and start to do their own thing.

Possums

not sure what you mean by without the hype?? no different here to UK in that sense.

we all couldnt wait to get here.

St.Georges Girl

Why oh why do some of the Oz tv advertisements show snowmen, snow falling and Reindeers? I expect others have noticed this and it's not just me, I hope so. Also, not just for Xmas, but for Mothers & Fathers Day, jewellers like Mazuchelli's advertise $5000 watches and rings etc. and Bunnings advertise $300 drills and the like. Do they seriously believe that the vast majority of people have that sort of money to spend on a gift or even want to?

Possums

LOL I know it is bizarre, the town next to us piped xmas carols through speakers for weeks upto xmas it was like being in an episode of The Prisioner

well some do theres a hell of a lot of rich people in Australia, the others just rack up more debt on the credit card.

apparently record spending in this years boxing day sales 6.2 billion!!

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...1-2862,00.html

Fleaflyfloflum

Hi GG fancy seeing you in here!

As we dont have any family with us in Aus I have managed to cope very well over the hols for the last 5yrs. We pretend it doesnt exist! OH usually works whilst I stay home and watch docos on TV. My first christmas away from the kids was so horrendous that we made a concious decision to just drop the whole thing. I have no decorations and we just have a nice but ordinary dinner that day. My only concession this year was doing a webcam link up with UK to watch the new bubs for hteir first christmas. Of course it choked me up like hell and has made me adamant next christmas i WILL be back home.

Pollyana

I got it nearly right this year. The Bloke took his mother home Christmas Day, so I then got most of the day on my own. I should've gone but I was on call for work She got in a couple of digs about me staying home to see a fancy man, she's lucky she already walks with a stick

So I then got the chance to cook proper Christmas dinner, didn't spend the afternoon with the Aussie half of the family saying how nice it is that the family is all together at Xmas, didn't have the annual row about something I'd done wrong in MIL's eyes, didn't have the annual row about who spent too much when they could've got it for $1 at St Vincents, didn't have to whisper when ringing my sister and family at midnight - cos I was still the only one int he house, and as you may have seen from the pictures in the Barbie I had a totally off the wall party with a bunch of fluffy rodents
Best Christmas in 5 years I reckon..........since the last one in the UK in fact

why

i have just read "most" of this thread....
WHY did i bother.....misery misery moan moan
it's just not right well i feel really annoyed by the way you moan and groan.....i have had a hectic time and loved all of it.....even the "not so good bits"....i have had a ball...i am just listening to my christmas cd for the last time while everyone is in the pool it's 38c now

just make it what you want it to be "just don't" do the things you don't want to do
just "do" the things you do want to do

sod everyone else

why

oh how miserable are you spending xmas on a sad chat line
i'm off swimming
good luck with your misery

hope you get that optractomy operation to sever the nerve connecting your arse to your eyes

thus removing your shitty out look on life