Thanksgiving, Christmas and other Fake Holidays

I can't believe the Holidays have already come and gone. Believe it or not, the onset of December does not automatically instill you with good cheer and visions of sugar plums. It's funny how much we rely on external stimuli -- weather, 24-hour Christmas music, family traditions -- to get you in the spirit of the season. But remove the context and the Holidays that we have celebrated our whole lives are in danger of being just another day.

To be honest, I think the Southern Hemisphere got the short end of the stick when it comes to Christmas. Thanks to European colonization, you have good ole Saint Nick in a jolly red suit and songs about snow playing even in the midst of 95 degree days. Not to mention Hollywood beaming out classics like Christmas Vacation and The Santa Clause, featuring feet upon feet of snow, to all corners of the earth, regardless of climate. I mean, I never saw Chevy Chase or Tim Allen celebrating Christmas by barbequing on the beach with SPF 30 slathered all over their faces. (Which, might I add, is actually a pretty awesome way of celebrating.) At heart, we all, even Australians, dream of white Christmases.

On top of the warm weather, this was Will's and my first Christmas season without our families, a setback that could have crippled us in our holiday celebrating. But despite the challenges we faced, we were determined to put our own spin on the holidays.

Exhibit 1: Thanksgiving

Though we missed the traditional Thursday celebration of Thanksgiving (booo work!) we still invited our friends to come partake in a traditional dinner, complete with sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, and... uh... chicken. (I was not up for cooking a turkey!) As I mentioned in a previous post, Will and I rented a car for the sole purpose of traipsing to an American food store in the Melbourne suburbs. Feast your eyes on this!

$120 worth of processed food later...

Exhibit 2: Christmas

To kick off the Christmas feel, Will's company held an awesome party (complete with 80's band!) at the top of the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. It was beautiful, and you could see all of Melbourne from the Sky Deck.

Melbourne at night... although we had some trouble taking pictures with the glass

Hello urinals 80 stories high!

Even though we weren't with our families, Will and I started our own tradition -- traveling over the Christmas holidays! We rented a house in Perth with a nice barbeque and outdoor area, so we grilled steaks and prawns and spent most of our Christmas day on the beach. I mean, when in Rome...

It's Christmas, it's Christmas, it's Christmas!

Darcy got a new dog tag -- it's all the rage these days, I hear

Exhibit 3: New Years

Hello, wine region! We were in Margaret River over New Years, and indulged in a six-course meal at a nice restaurant in town. It was one of the best ways I've ever spent New Years-- you had a place to sit all night long, it wasn't overcrowded, there was a live jazz band playing into the wee hours of the morning, and the food was AMAZING. I could really get used to New Years in the Southern Hemisphere. One of my biggest complaints about Northern Hemisphere New Years is the COLD, and here you don't have to deal with that!

Us at our table

One of the six courses -- roasted lamb with grilled tomatoes. It may look small, but I could barely finish it thanks to the previous four courses.

Happy New Year! Will didn't get to set off fireworks, so he settled for a party popper

Darcy and Lily ringing in the new year at our bed and breakfast

Overall we managed our American/Australian Christmas fusion quite well, in my opinion. Even though we missed our families, we had a great time celebrating as a family of three -- heat and all.