Those that live in the Southern Hemisphere

[nesser1981]

What is it like having Christmas in the summer? I mean, what are your traditions & such?

I'm sure a lot are the same, but what do you do differently?

I'm from Florida, so we never did the wintery thing, but we'd still have cold weather (to us), lol!

I love living in a cold climate for the Christmas season, but I do miss the warmer temps of Florida, sometimes.


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[jacinda]

I don't really think of them as traditions, but after a big family lunch, we usually just chill out and catch up with each other as the kids play. We're usually with family on Christmas day, so the kids will play with their cousins indoors or outdoors depending on the weather. If our pool is up they'll jump in that. We might play cricket on the lawn, or go for a drive to the beach if we're really feeling energetic. December is our main school holiday/summer break, with the new school year starting again in February. We go to the beach a lot, spend a lot of time outdoors, go camping, etc.

 

[nesser1981]

That's right, I didn't think of the fact they'd be on summer break from school.


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[flergs]

Our Christmas food is usually cold vs hot. My MIL often has the full hot lunch, but it's just too much. So now we have all the meats, but cold with salads. Then the kids strip off to their undies & run under the sprinklers while the adults sit outside & talk.

Kids are home for 6 weeks over end of Dec & Jan so lots of swimming in the pool & staying inside under the air conditioner.

 

[KristinCB]

This is interesting to me!! Do most people do colder dinners? Are big traditional turkey dinner common at any time in the year?

 

[nesser1981]

Do you bake cookies, do the whole gingerbread house thing, etc? I guess hot cocoa isn't a big thing! Lol


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[littlekiwi]

We do have turkey but thats mainly cause we keep some of the Canadian christmas traditions.

My grandmother does do some christmas baking but we dont do the ginger bread houses. I dont even remember them being a big thing when my cousin and I were younger either (we are 23 and 27 years old now)

 

[jacinda]

We don't do turkey. It's not that common in NZ. We usually do roast chicken or pork if we're at the in-laws - served hot at lunch along with cold salads, then eaten cold for dinner. Something like this:

I'll usually do some kind of gingerbread house with the kids, though we do an easier biscuit version instead of actual gingerbread. The kids aren't that interested in the taste - just the decorating and the lollies. We won't get to do it this year because I don't have time between now and when we go away, but we will do other Christmas craft things (like the candy cane reindeer etc).

As for baking cookies - I'm not the best baker, but my MIL usually does has lots of cookies waiting for us. That happens whatever time of the year we turn up though. Hot chocolate/cocoa isn't done here because it's summer, and too hot. We have pavlova and icecream instead. Mmm....pavlova....

 

[jak]

I think alot of the traditions are the same - Christmas lights, Santa stockings, open presents Christmas morning, have lunch and/or dinner with family - the main difference though, as others have said, is cold food instead of hot... so lots of salads, cold meats (ham, chicken), seafood (not in my family though) and desserts (pavlova, trifle). This is my Christmas lunch from last year:

We don't do Gingerbread houses (though I know of people who do), but I usually make some kind of Christmassy bisicuits each year and sometimes this confectionary called White Christmas.

Other than that, it's a lot of sitting around doing not much and trying to stay cool.

 

[nesser1981]

Easter always that way for us, lots of colder foods, still usually turkey or ham, but potato & pasta salad instead of the casseroles & mashed potatoes.

Cold desserts instead of pies.

So interesting to me!


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[MamaBee]

This is interesting - thanks Vanesa for posting it!

I'm doing Christmas Around the World with Kiddo again this year - and this will be useful!

Are there any really traditional recipes that I could make here? I've see pavlova listed a number of times in my research for Australia...

 

[jacinda]

NZ and Australia argue over who was the first to make the pavlova. They think it's them, and we think it's us. It's definitely a traditional favourite for both countries. I don't really think there are any others. Each family would have their favourite dish, but that's about it.

 

[jak]

The pavlova debate has been going on since the late 1920s!!

White Christmas that I mentioned is Australian (I think) - Wikipedia tells me so too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_%28food%29.

Definitely one for the sweet tooth! And super simple to make - here's one recipe: http://www.kelloggs.com.au/en_AU/white-christmas.html

I personally don't like sultanas in it but you can substitute other dried fruit (e.g. cranberries, diced pineapple, etc).

If you Google it you will find more recipes.