Everyone knows Corona's vivid beach scene commercials, right? And if you don't curse the television in response to a sincere longing to be drinking beer on the beach every time you see one, then you're not human - or maybe you just don't like beer, or the beach - nah, you're not human.
In 2000 Corona aired a Corona Christmas commercial that made me sigh in a dramatic way, (not difficult for me), and then I cursed the television. It was a beach scene at dusk, showing a little hut on the beach surrounded by palm trees. Someone was whistling a Christmas tune and one of the palm trees lit up with Christmas lights at the close. Ahhhhhh... Before this commercial I'd never given thought to a warm Christmas. How ignorant I was to not realize people in the Southern Hemisphere and near and around the equator actually get to relish in sunshine and warmth when all I knew was a cold Christmas.
Last year we arrived in Australia 12 days after Christmas. Even though we went from winter to summer in 14 short, purely blissful hours, (insert sarcasm), we didn't get to experience the spirit of Christmas until this year. Our American friends living here told us it would be weird, in fact, they said, "It's weird, just embrace the weirdness." Now what did that mean exactly? I didn't know what they were referring to until Christmas arrived.
First, Christmas' arrival is normally preceded by Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the season kick-off, the first-quarter, the starting line for which you gauge your readiness and start the countdown, (hence Black Friday, which Australians are fascinated by; I had several Aussie friends demand a detailed description of this strange, dark day), but... no Thanksgiving here. I actually had a friend in the US ask me, "How do they celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia?" This person shall remain anonymous. There is no Thanksgiving Down Under, or in any other country for that matter. It is purely an American holiday - ya know, the Pilgrims, Indians, turkeys etc. - specific to America. So without Thanksgiving, how could I ready myself for Christmas? Luckily we had Mark's birthday as an indicator that Christmas was around the corner. Mark's birthday is always on or around Thanksgiving and this year it was a doozy of a birthday - 40! We were so focused and consumed by the, "month of Mark," and by our fabulous US visitors Uncle Dave and Aunt Kat, that Christmas' impending arrival seemed an odd idea.
Second, it's hot and humid. The beach is beckoning like 5pm after a horrendous day of mothering. The sun is shining; it's up at 6am and down at 9pm. I pulled the comforters out of the duvets, we're sleeping with the windows open (to the dismay of Mark's NY sensibility), I've turned on the air conditioning for Pete's sake! They don't use the word Christmas down here either, they call it Chrissy, as if it's another holiday entirely. The current weather demands a scantily clad wardrobe instead of sweaters, scarves, and snow boots. It's champagne and beer instead of eggnog and red wine! It's ODD people! It's downright WEIRD! But as I was reminded by a sweet Irish woman in a grocery store in Ireland circa 99', "Just because things are different girls doesn't make them weird, just different." So, it's just DIFFERENT! But ya know what? It's AWESOME!
Third, there are very few Chrissy decorations adorning store-fronts and streets, and NO Christmas lights to be found. The tradition of driving around with bundled-up little ones, ogling at the spectacular light displays created by the Clark W. Griswold's of the world, dies Down Under. We put up our faux Chrissy tree wearing shorts and tank tops (singlets) all while sweating. I put the Christmas station on Pandora as we decorated our tree and was struck by how odd it was to hear Frank Sinatra singing, "Let it Snow," when I could hear the waves down at Little Manly beach.
As unconventional as it seems we LOVED it! There is a little part of me that yearned for the tamales on Christmas morning that is a tradition in my family, and the French onion soup and clam chowder for Christmas Eve, but our Chrissy menu was deliciously different. We had prawn salad on Chrissy Eve and shrimp scampi for Chrissy dinner (are you irritated with the Chrissy use yet?). Also, the pyro in me didn't know what to do with all the Christmas wrapping since there was no blazing fire to stoke. Nonetheless, the holidays (hols) in Australia have been fabulous. The culmination was a spectacular fireworks display at Manly Beach that we watched from our front yard all while drinking champagne on a warm summer night. It felt like the 4th of July!
I will leave you with the Aussie version of Jingle Bells, and Parker's rendition. Imagine living here and listening to the traditional lyrics of Christmas songs. I'd make up my own lyrics too.
Happy Chrissy (as they say) and G'Day mates!!!
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