I think the longer school holidays are the lead up to Christmas here.
I guess things don't seem as Christmassy if you've spent most of your life enjoying winter Christmas's.
One tradition a lot of people have been into in the past 20 years, is the outdoor Christmas lights, either making a display, or visiting them. But this is a worldwide tradition too.
Swimming a lot is something else that's popular.
Then there's Boxing Day traditions like watching the cricket, or picnics with leftovers.
Sorry I forgot to add, but a few years ago, Carols by Candlelight is often called Christmas under the Stars here as well.
Last edited by emc2; November 30th, 2010 at 07:25 PM.
My childhood christmases usually were getting together with all our family- which was both my mum and my dad's side (we were the family that bought both sides together)- we'd either meet at a park, beach or someones house (a few were ours...as we had the pool). Then after nibbling all morning on usual chips and dips, we'd get stuck into cold ham and chicken, seafood, salads, rolls. Then dessert was usually fruits, pavlova and trifle.
Throughout the day we'd just catch up, swim, play cricket or frisbee or with whatever new sport type toy we got.
Then by the afternoon everyone goes home and we all just chill...except for poor mum who was usually cleaning up.
These days...now we all have our own little families, we tend to do our own thing at our house- with my parents and brother and parent inlaws- the rest of DH's family are scattered around the country and we don't have alot to do wit them. Meals are the same though....cold meats and seafood, with an easy slice or cheesecake and fruits for dessert.
And since I've been with DH I've made it tradition we go look at xmas lights on xmas eve now...which i'm looking forward to even more this year with my 2 little boys.
A big one for my family is the arvo sleep the men have while the girls chat in the kitchen cleaning up. ITs funny as all of a suden the boys/men start wondering off and you find them asleep on a patch of carpet/couch/anywhere.
The other one for us is watching the boxing day cricket and the sydney to Hobart whilst eating left over ham (this goes on for days)!
thanks all.....im stealing a few i want DD to have the love of christmas i had as a kid and need some good traditions we can enjoy together. wysiwig: you hit the nail on the head...its the stuff leading up to christmas that i think i miss, the whole of december feels like christmas in the uk! we go to this big farm and pick a tree and there is a big horse and cart that move the big trees around the farm...i always remember the steam coming off the horse cause its working so hard in the freezing cold!
so.....im makeing mince pies tomorrow...get some christmas smells going! and we are going to go to carols by candle light! that sounds fun. we willhave a big pile of prawns on the day...which is something i can get used to and i guess its swimming instead of walking on christmas day....
i think another thing is that in the uk is always quite a big family day, my mum, dad, sister, grandma. then my dads sister comes over with her family. then boxing day i go over to my other grandparents and my auntie is there. here its just DH, DD and FIL. boxing day will be the day for getting together with friends so thats something to get used to aswell.
Alibaby - you reminded me of one of our family traditions - "Sarajevo" - so named from when my uncle's partner returned from o/seas and walked in to find us all sleeping everywhere on the floor / tiles / sofa / bed / daybed outside and said "oh goodness, it's like walking into Sarajevo here, bodies everywhere". Maybe not the most politically-correct term, but we have our nap in between mains and dessert
First off we have 'Tree Night' - exactly what it sounds, we all gather at my parents, drink champagne, eat massive amounts of dips and crackers, put on the Christmas Carols and decorate the tree!
Then there is 'Ham Night' - this is actually one of my parents traditions. There are 7 of them, and every year since I've been born (I'm now 33) they get together the week before Christmas to catch up, drink champagne, wear silly hats and make ham sandwiches with fresh ham from the bone. One person brings the fresh bread, dad organises the ham, someone brings the nibbles, someone else brings flowers for the table. God knows how or why it started but it's absolutely sacred and NOTHING comes in the way of Ham Night!
On Christmas morning we have 'Letterbox' (gee, we're not very good at coming up with original names for things! ). At 7:30am on Christmas morning it's front and centre for all ex neighbours to the one remaining couples house who still lives on our old street to drink champagne and wish everyone a Merry Christmas before going off to our own families for the day. I started this one when I was about 3, living next door to this couple, I always used to go in there on Chrissy morning, they were like a second set of parents to me, then mum and dad came too but didn't want to intrude so stood at the letterbox, then other nosy neighbours wandered out to find out what's going on. Now, there is anywhere up to 20ppl all hanging out at the doily covered letterbox, some in jammies, some dressed but ALL with a glass of champagne in hand!!!
Oh, can't forget the house lights! That's always a good night! A very simple tradition to start if you have a car! Get in it and drive! haha! Some of the lights look amazing and some go all out and have 'santa' saying hello to all the kids. There's a great website which tells you which ones are best in your area, can't remember it though!
We also have 'Pub Night Christmas', 2 of my best friends and I have 'pub night' once a week, we used to go to the pub before we all got married and had kids, stay till closing and get kicked out, now we go for dinner and are home at a reasonable hour! BUT pub night is sacred to us and NOTHING comes before it (unless you are out of the country or at an immediate family members birthday), we've been doing this for 11yrs. Christmas Pub Night means we all dress festive, bring gifts, and go somewhere a little nicer for dinner. Not much, but it's one of my cues that Christmas is coming!
I LOVE your traditions doodlebug!!
For us, we do the Christmas tree night like doodlebug. That's tonight at my mum's as our tree is already up
We do the drive around town looking at the Christmas lights. One of the radio stations put it on, there's a north cavalcade and a south one. We live on the south of Cairns, so we do the south one.
Christmas day we do a Christmas lunch. This year DH and I are putting it on. Still deciding what we're doing with it.
Boxing day we always do a bbq lunch with friends and cricket. Gotta have cricket on Boxing Day!
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I have never heard of them? I'm missing an aussie Christmas tradition...
i want DD to have the love of christmas i had as a kid and need some good traditions we can enjoy together. wysiwig: you hit the nail on the head...its the stuff leading up to christmas that i think i miss, the whole of december feels like christmas in the uk! we go to this big farm and pick a tree and there is a big horse and cart that move the big trees around the farm...i always remember the steam coming off the horse cause its working so hard in the freezing cold! 
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