Merry Christmas!

But let me back up ... to Halloween.  The Aussies don't much care for Halloween.  Which made it all the more fun to dress up like a bunch of freaks and knock on their doors.  I reckon that maybe one out of every 7 or 8 households were ready and willing to hand out some "lollies" (that's what we call candy over here).  Another American family with 3 kids joined us for the trick or treating and the mums dressed up as well which made for an even bigger freak show.  At one house they even opened the shutters, took one look and closed the shutters! 

As we progressed into what you all would call "fall" and we call spring, Thanksgiving rolled around.  The Aussies care even less for Thanksgiving than they do for Halloween.  For obvious reasons of course.  We still attempted some kind of acknowledgement of the holiday by having the same American family plus another over for turkey and trimmings.  We did it on the Saturday after Thanksgiving since it is not a holiday and the turkey had to be pre-ordered since they don't normally sell whole turkeys in the grocery stores.  That 13 lb turkey cost $65.  No joke.  And we don't have cranberries.  Or Stove-top. 

And that brings us to Christmas.  Or "Chrissy" as it is commonly called here.  (Side note:  the other day, Quinn was complaining about his "mossy bites" - that was the first time I had heard that term for mosquito bites).  It does not feel a bit like Christmas.  It's not just because it is warm.  We lived in Arizona for a couple of years so have experienced a warm weather Christmas.  This is different -- it is summer!  With all the sights, sounds and feel of summer - the school year is over and the kids are off for summer break, the days are long and hot and muggy, the birds are at their all-time high level of insanity (they sound like chimpanzees on crack), the spiders are enormous and plentiful, the cockroaches are flying, the most common attire is shorts and flip-flops. (Havaianas are the thongs of choice here - 99.8% of Aussies own a pair.  That's a fact. And that Hatterman kids each got a new pair for Chrissy.  That's also a fact.)  With that said, Christmas is a big deal.  We put up Chrissy trees and decorate them with "fairy" lights.  We listen to Chrissy carols and buy Chrissy presents.  Christmas Eve doesn't seem to be a big deal -- the public holidays are Christmas Day and Boxing Day.  (Boxing Day is 26th December and was named for the day that servants would receive gifts or a "Christmas Box" from their employers.  It's celebrated in the UK and various Commonwealth nations like Australia and New Zealand). 

Even though the actual public holidays are similar to ours -- two days for Christmas plus New Year's Day, most offices are closed for the whole two weeks.  Which really burned us one year ago when we landed on 24th December and then had to wait about three weeks to get our air shipment because the people in customs were on holiday.  This year we're loving it as we have 2 weeks off work. 

I am writing this on Christmas morning.  I baked our traditional egg dish for "brekky" but it is just SO hot to be running an oven.  Therefore, most people don't bake and instead fire up the barbie for their Christmas lunch.  We will do the same and will literally have shrimp on the barbie today (curiously enough, shrimp are known as prawns, so I don't really know where that whole "shrimp on the barbie" thing came from).  The annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race launches from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day and we will be on a boat cruise to watch the action.  I've heard that it is an amazing sight.

These photos are from one of our favourite spots in Sydney -- called Milson's Point, it's a beautiful view of the bridge and harbour.

This is Phyllis - the blue-tongued skink that lives in our front yard.

This is Matt.  You gotta be careful if you're going to take a nap around here.

This is me - giddy for Chrissy!

 

 

Oh! I almost forgot to mention -- we took a vacation to Bali in November. Bali is a popular vacation spot for Aussies because it is relatively close - just a 6 hour flight from Sydney- and way cheap. We had heard the term "bogan" used before describing things that are unsophisticated or like we would use "redneck". Bali epitomizes the Australian bogan tourist, and we fit right in! Had a grand ole time!

 

My babies in Bali, and Charley and I getting a fish spa - hundreds of little fish eat the dead skin off your feet and legs.  So creepy and exhilarating at the same time!