Hi

This is my first Christmas in Australia and it feels weird!

Does anyone else feel like this? What do you do? Do you cook a big roast with all the trimmings?

Been here 10 years now and it still feels "wierd".
We still do the big roast turkey.

Should have been mannerly and welcomed you too.

Thank you Bix

I've been enjoying it here but the past week or so has felt weird and I've felt more homesick. It just doesn't seem right.

I don't want to go back to the UK as I like it here but Christmas in the heat just doesn't feel like Christmas.

You are certainly not alone. Many expats feel the same way.
In fact there are some Christmas in July events organised each year because of it.

I was up in Cairns for 9 years and xmas day is usually the hottest day of the year there. It was aircon all day.

Look at it from a perspective that you are gaining a new experience rather than losing an old one.

Yes I think you're right.
I knew when I came here that I had to accept new ways of doing things.

I want to skype family but the timings are difficult. I will either have to get up early on Boxing Day or stay up very late on Christmas Day.
Same for everyone here I guess.

I've been married nearly 10 years, I defer to my Aussie OH and go with the (sweaty) flow. No big roast here, cold cuts and backyard cricket.

No it doesn't feel like Christmas and that is OK by me.

Have a good one whatever you are doing.

Yes it is a pain and the phone lines can get bogged down at xmas so just be aware. We used those cheap phone cards when we first got here but couldn't get through at xmas because they have a limited amount of lines. You may need to spoon feed the family the times too. They tend to forget what the difference is.

I have grown accustomed to Christmas feeling 'as it should' here. I love this time of year and would certainly miss it IF we were to move back. Being from Melbourne we were just as likely to have Northern Hemisphere weather anyway, haha.

Lots of beer to keep cool and hydrated and a bbq.

I've settled here really well, but last year at Christmas, I struggled a bit (it was my first Aussie Christmas)

This year, I haven't struggled at all but I have a few friends who complain that it's not the same.

I think it helps to accept that it is different, but that doesn't mean it is worse. The weather is generally great at this time of year and it's a much more relaxed affair.

Just think of the number of people in the UK who jet off to a beach for Christmas. Then consider you have the hot weather without having to move, and with cold beers (or champagne) in the fridge. Dump the turkey and go with seafood and a BBQ. It's all about the mindset.

Oh, and at least for me UK morning = Oz evening, so it's easy to drop a few christmas messages from a drunken haze. On my mobile plan, calls to the UK are actually cheaper than calls in Australia (to other networks) and included in the free minutes.

35 years and it's definitely nothing remotely near a UK Xmas. There are some bonuses, like being able to plan to eat outside for almost certain, which means you can have more people over. This year I'm spit roasting some loin of pork and chucking some spuds on the charcoal, I may even roast some leeks and carrots on the fire... We will be sitting outside, then using the same coals and maybe adding to them, I'll do a couple of big chickens for the evening, whilst we are outside wining and dining and partying. People tend to drop in easier and unexpectedly here, it's far easier to cater for them because of the outside aspect. If no one drops in, adding to our 5 Xmas day guests, then we'll all go down to a Neighbours in the evening with my cooked chickens and some booze and add to their evening.



I must do a UK Xmas again though... Although not sure where now dammit. Wherever it is My wife and I will probably have to go back to a hotel that night... no room at any of my remanding UK family houses/flats, except for lounge room floors. Left my run 4 years to late as my Parents are now in care accommodation together.


Edit, I've set up my Rottisserie so it can BBQ at high temps with a grill plate, We've got tons of meat handy and prawns in case I have so many turn up it becomes an evening BBQ.


.

That's the same for us - the relatives generally skype/phone when they get up on Christmas morning, so it's early Christmas evening here.

We still do the big Christmas dinner (although I do a ham rather than a turkey) and then buffet for Boxing Day, but I'm the sort who does a roast every Sunday no matter the weather

I don't think it'll ever feel 'Northern hemisphere' Christmas here.. possibly because it's not But you know, if you have the blinds closed, the air con on (so the temp feels like a central heated house in the UK in winter), the tree up and carols playing - it could be anywhere so long as you've had enough to drink.