I lived in Australia for fourteen years so that’s fourteen Christmases I enjoyed Down Under.
My first Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere was a bit of a shock to the system. I didn’t feel festive at all! The sun was shining, it was boiling hot and I did my Christmas shopping in shorts and a T-shirt with plenty of factor 50 sunscreen. I remember seeing Santa in Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne, and it was such an oddity.
I had a friend staying with me for my first Christmas away from the UK and of course, we had the traditional roast dinner with all the trimmings. Or at least we would’ve done if we hadn’t forgotten the potatoes! We’d shopped for all the food and somehow left them at the checkout and so on Christmas Day 2000 we were driving around Melbourne and its suburbs looking for potatoes. We managed to get stuck in a traffic jam – something neither of us had ever experienced on the big day itself – but unfortunately had to eat the dinner without a key ingredient.
My mum was so distressed that I didn’t have a tree that year that she sent me a decoration so I’d at least I’d have something. I’m not sure why my friend and I didn’t have a tree but given we’d left the potatoes behind I’m not sure we could’ve been trusted to get a tree safely into the apartment!
I think people have a vision of all Australians enjoying a Christmas BBQ on the beach, but I’ve never met anyone who did. Most people I know had Christmas lunch at home, although a lot of families would have a lunch of cold meats and salads and plenty of seafood. Somehow, I could never let go of the traditional roast dinner though.
Over the years, Christmas evolved and I got used to the heat and the sun. I always had a real tree too. We’d choose it from a Christmas tree farm which was always a lot of fun with the kids. There were rows and rows of trees and we would tie a ribbon around the bottom of the one we wanted to buy and arrange delivery a few weeks later.
Last Christmas was our first in the Northern Hemisphere and it didn’t disappoint. We spent Christmas with family and wore Christmas jumpers of course, and I think I ate my bodyweight in cheese! The only thing that would’ve made it extra perfect is snow and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for that this year.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone, wherever you are in the world. I hope it’s a happy one! For us, it’ll be a lovely family time…with plenty of roast potatoes J
Helen J Rolfe x
My latest novel, What Rosie Found Next, is available now, from Amazon. It follows the story of Rosie & Owen, and set over November and December in Australia, there’s a little bit of Christmas in there too. Here’s the blurb…
A shaky upbringing has left Rosie Stevens craving safety and security. She thinks she knows exactly what she needs to make her life complete – the stable job and perfect house-sit she’s just found in Magnolia Creek. The only thing she wants now is for her long-term boyfriend, Adam, to leave his overseas job and come home for good.
Owen Harrison is notoriously nomadic, and he roars into town on his Ducati for one reason and one reason only – to search his parents’ house while they’re away to find out what they’ve been hiding from him his entire life. When he meets Rosie, who refuses to quit the house-sit in his parents’ home, sparks fly.
Secrets are unearthed, promises are broken, friendships are put to the test and the real risk of bushfires under the hot Australian sun threatens to undo Rosie once and for all.
Will Rosie and Owen be able to find what they want or what they really need?
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