What traditions make Christmas for Australians?

So, being from the UK and spending the first 22 years there i find that christmas in australia very...well...un-christmasy!

I know it is all about family and being with loved ones, and im enjoying making new traditions and discovering the joys of this time of year with DD!

Like, we always made an advent bowl, with four candles, one for each sunday before christmas and we would all get together as a family, rugged up, and go for a walk in the local park and dig around in the bushes for holy and pine cones and twigs etc to decorate the advent bowl.

After christmas diner we would drive to the canals and go for a nice long walk with all the family, i have great memories of that part of the day. so cold, seeing other people out walking and wishing them happy christmas.

all the things around this time of year here just dont bring back those nostalgic feelings of christmas for me.....so, what makes christmas for you, brings back those memories of your childhood christmas?

I'm in the same position as you, having spent only three out of 29 Christmas' in Australia. We have tried the BBQ Christmas, and the big family Christmas (someone else's family, twice) which were always lovely. But the best Christmas was the one we spent at home by ourselves. I cooked the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, we go to church and open all our pressies, then phone the UK or skype to see our family back home. We stay at home and play in the garden, and let the kids explore all their new toys whilst eating too much and eventually watching a Christmas movie on TV. Boxing day is then a day for catching up with friends (usually other expats, all in the same situation as us).

Carols by Candlelight is a new tradition for us though. The kids love it, and this year we will go to our church one where there will be fireworks. Sitting late in the evening singing is not something you can do in Scotland but it's a lovely thing to get into the habit of every year :)

Back home (Qld) we have a full Christmas dinner - seafood starter, home-made sorbet, roast & veg (ham/turkey) with bread sauce, cranberry sauce and multiple stuffings. Then steamed pud, pavlova and eventually christmas cake :)

Down here, it's actually all cold cuts and buffet - it's doing my head in! I do miss midnight mass then supper, peeling prawns after mass and poached eggs with fresh sliced ham christmas morning. So I'm doing the ham myself :) And creating my own tradition of baking/glazing the ham on Christmas eve, and making egg-nog :)

Seafood feast followed by pigging out on tropical fruit mmmmmmmmm.

I was going to start the same thread - now 4 out of 34 christmas' in Australia. The day itself I am quite happy with seafood and BBQ and getting out and about (something didn't do much of in the UK) - what I struggle with is having some traditions for the run up to Christmas so are like a cue in my brain that Christmas is coming. Foods that are typical to eat in in run up to Christmas etc. The idea of Christmas being in the cold is so ingrained is hard to feel Christmas is coming without the cues of dark nights, cold etc of the UK. Carols by Candlelight we did once and was great but a bit chilly, and I think DD is a bit little for that - but am looking for a local one.

My mum thinks I need to make more of an effort with Christmas for DD, as this is what she will know as Christmas (we are unlikely to visit UK at Christmas time, as prefer to go in the warmer weather of the summer) - so any suggestions of things most welcome (preferably that don't involve much shopping as is not an activity I enjoy at all - in fact I think I have a slight phobia).

my grandma does a big day, roast ham turkey chicken and beef, you can go for either lunch dinner or both, she has 12 children who almost all have kids, and some of us have our own kids, so its a big busy day, but realy worth it! i started my own tradition the other year of stopping on the way and buying her the nicest bigest bunch of flowers i can get, she has loved it so im going to keep that one up!

Doh is 4 out of 33 Christmas' - I am not 34 yet - I seem to have a mental block about my age - I went a whole year once thinking I was a year older than I was - I know is simple do the math using year you born - but is weird how frequently I think I am a year older than I am.

Spending Christmas eve with the kids cooking treats for Santa and the next day, setting everything up with DH after the kids have gone to bed, last year I cut snowflakes from paper and we hung them from the ceiling and had fake snow everywhere.

Breakfast with croissants, champagne and orange juice, fresh fruit. Lunch with turkey, ham, seafood, salads and new potatoes (pink eyes) with butter and mint! Oh and fresh peas YUM

I can imagine it must be really hard for it to be so different. :hug:

In my family we always had cold cuts, prawns, ham, chicken with salads. For me that's Christmas lunch. We also had trifle & plum pud with coins. I do that too. And a pavlova - always. Rum balls, white Christmas...

We get up & open the santa sacks - then we have a light breakfast always mangoes!
We then clean up the dishes & we hand out the presents under the tree.. The kids play with toys etc & we eat lunch about 1pm. That goes on all afternoon - we sleep on the couch/beds/floor...

Then we have left overs for dinner! We almost always have friends over or my exhusbands sister always spent Christmas at my place & did last year also so it will be interesting to see what happens this year!

Christmas Eve I usually have a house full of friends & we have drinks & prawns... I then wait until the kids go to bed & I make santa footprints through the house & put out the santa sack presents - take a munch out of the carrot etc etc...
Not much sleep is had that night!

I LOVE Christmas!!!!

Haighs Chocolate Puddings.

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.

Yep that's true driving around looking at the lights is a big one!

Rouge what are Haigs chocolate puddings? :redface: I have never heard of them? I'm missing an aussie Christmas tradition...

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.

Ahh...I love christmas!

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.

thanks for sharing... :)

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 ;)

I love Christmas, and so does my family! :)

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 this time of year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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! :)

Carols by Candlelight and Christmas Lyrics and Music

Some Aussie carols here
Jaybee's Christmas Carol Lyrics