Here is my traditional Christmas picture vomit.
Friday 25 December 2009
Thursday 24 December 2009
Waiting
It is Christmas Eve.
We are waiting.
Waiting for a little person to close those tired eyes and dream of Santa and Snowmen and Christmas Trees and Jesus (does anyone dream about Jesus?).
And then we will pull out the hidden presents, that were not so well hidden, and assemble.
Many of LQ's gifts this year are handmade or seconds. She will be receiving a miniature chefs apron (just her size). A slew of second hand clothing all bundled up to make a fun dressing up box. A no-sew tutu. And then the mother of gifts (not handmade) - a big beastly plastic monstrosity with a slide and stairs and a place to put a sprinkler in the Summer (which it is right now).
And while I wait I will tell you what Christmas in Australia is like for me.
Christmas means singing carols like "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" and not really meaning it. Until I have had a white Christmas... and then I sing it with meaning.
Christmas smells like rain. Wet, hot and sticky mornings with thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Christmas means Santa with three fans blowing on him to keep him cool.
Christmas lunch may be a BBQ on the beach or still the traditional roast, but always with sweat pouring down my face.
The same sweet Christmas smells pervade the air in America and Australia, but in Australia you get to smell them long into the Summer evening as you sit outside and catch up with friends.
Christmas means fake Christmas trees. Try finding a plump, non-sickly looking fresh Christmas tree in the middle of Summer in the tropics. It is MUCH easier to go to Target once a decade to replace the faux tree that has slowly shed its plumpness.
Christmas is communities gathering in outdoor areas to sing carols together while holding candles in cups. Wax dripped deliberately on the picnic blanket. The larger "Carols by Candlelight" are televised and usually have the Wiggles welcoming Santa on to the stage.
Christmas means new toys for Summer vacation e.v.e.r.y year.
Emphasis is placed on end of the school year exams and NOT pageants, recitals and general forms of torture.
Schools have closed for Summer vacation well before Christmas. This means many harried mothers are trying to entertain their offspring as well as gift shop discreetly and engage in general festive activities. There is a price to pay for missing school Christmas recitals.
Christmas in Australia sometimes feels like trying to keep traditions where traditions generally don't fit. We are a country too young to have our own traditions, trying to make our own traditions but still desperately clinging to the old.
Regardless of its different scents, songs and food and whether we are in America or Australia or some other country Dal and I will always remember and centre our Christmas around the birth and LIFE of Christ... and things wont seem all that different.
We are waiting.
Waiting for a little person to close those tired eyes and dream of Santa and Snowmen and Christmas Trees and Jesus (does anyone dream about Jesus?).
And then we will pull out the hidden presents, that were not so well hidden, and assemble.
Many of LQ's gifts this year are handmade or seconds. She will be receiving a miniature chefs apron (just her size). A slew of second hand clothing all bundled up to make a fun dressing up box. A no-sew tutu. And then the mother of gifts (not handmade) - a big beastly plastic monstrosity with a slide and stairs and a place to put a sprinkler in the Summer (which it is right now).
And while I wait I will tell you what Christmas in Australia is like for me.
Christmas means singing carols like "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" and not really meaning it. Until I have had a white Christmas... and then I sing it with meaning.
Christmas smells like rain. Wet, hot and sticky mornings with thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Christmas means Santa with three fans blowing on him to keep him cool.
Christmas lunch may be a BBQ on the beach or still the traditional roast, but always with sweat pouring down my face.
The same sweet Christmas smells pervade the air in America and Australia, but in Australia you get to smell them long into the Summer evening as you sit outside and catch up with friends.
Christmas means fake Christmas trees. Try finding a plump, non-sickly looking fresh Christmas tree in the middle of Summer in the tropics. It is MUCH easier to go to Target once a decade to replace the faux tree that has slowly shed its plumpness.
Christmas is communities gathering in outdoor areas to sing carols together while holding candles in cups. Wax dripped deliberately on the picnic blanket. The larger "Carols by Candlelight" are televised and usually have the Wiggles welcoming Santa on to the stage.
Christmas means new toys for Summer vacation e.v.e.r.y year.
Emphasis is placed on end of the school year exams and NOT pageants, recitals and general forms of torture.
Schools have closed for Summer vacation well before Christmas. This means many harried mothers are trying to entertain their offspring as well as gift shop discreetly and engage in general festive activities. There is a price to pay for missing school Christmas recitals.
Christmas in Australia sometimes feels like trying to keep traditions where traditions generally don't fit. We are a country too young to have our own traditions, trying to make our own traditions but still desperately clinging to the old.
Regardless of its different scents, songs and food and whether we are in America or Australia or some other country Dal and I will always remember and centre our Christmas around the birth and LIFE of Christ... and things wont seem all that different.
Sunday 20 December 2009
Christmas Dress
Granny Jules, affectionately known at the moment as "Grules" sent LQ a Christmas dress to wear the Sunday before Christmas. We took some pictures AND a movie. At the moment LQ only has a pair of boots that fit and some sneakers. We went for the boots with the dress. It is quite an eclectic ensemble, but we think it works for LQ.
Saturday 19 December 2009
Moose Hunters
LQ loves Mickey Mouse and gang. That's no secret. Since coming back from visiting Granny Jules in July, LQ has had an insatiable hunger for the old cartoons. Dal has a whole collection of them, so we have been fortunate enough to not have to endure just one DVD the whole time.
This doesn't mean we don't know ALL of them by heart. We do. Dal and I will hum or whistle along to the background music of any given short.
And yesterday I caught LQ imitating one of MY favourites, "Moose Hunters". If you want to know what she is watching when she does her little shoulder shimmy, start watching the cartoon from 3.25 onwards.
This doesn't mean we don't know ALL of them by heart. We do. Dal and I will hum or whistle along to the background music of any given short.
And yesterday I caught LQ imitating one of MY favourites, "Moose Hunters". If you want to know what she is watching when she does her little shoulder shimmy, start watching the cartoon from 3.25 onwards.
Thursday 10 December 2009
Evolution
It is my theory that we should continue eating all the refined foods so that one day our children's children's children will thank us.
Thank us for conditioning our bodies to take the food that is now widely available and will continue to be widely available. Our ancestors did it, so why can't we?
Take one for the team and eat a cake (or a slab of fudge) today.
Thank us for conditioning our bodies to take the food that is now widely available and will continue to be widely available. Our ancestors did it, so why can't we?
Take one for the team and eat a cake (or a slab of fudge) today.
Sunday 6 December 2009
Climate Change
So.... Climate Change seems to be the hot topic around the world at the moment. That and the numerous affairs Tiger Woods seems to have had in the past decade... but that is just too boring to even mention.
I may have indicated my lax attitude toward "saving" the environment in the past. Much to my mother's chagrin, I revel in paper plates (still with the guilt, though) and only recycle because the nazi government here provide itty bitty waste bins and recycle garbage bins that are larger than mother earth herself.
Stephanie owned up to being an earth killer a month ago. I am sure if you scroll down in the comments of that same post, DeNae takes pride in driving her gas guzzling beast to the next-door-neighbour's party (or I could just be projecting my own image of DeNae on to you all). My dear friend MareeRose's blog has become the little voice that comes up every so often to remind me that I do have other options besides disposable cutlery.
As you well know, I am a firm believer that there is more to come after this life. Plenty of rewards for the good people of the earth, etc. And as I sat on my wonderfully reupholstered dining chairs today reading yet another news article about climate change and what needed to be done before the earth and all its inhabitants died, I realised two things and wondered a third.
1. I am not all too panicked at the prospect of the demise of the earth.
2. I realise that this makes me kind of a hypocrite. Believing that God made this beautiful Earth just for me and then not caring one whit what happens to this wonderful gift (kind of makes you sick, doesn't it)
3. I wonder if there are more God fearing folk kind of banking on the second coming of Christ to fix all the environmental issues that we have OR are there more of them trying to treat the earth the way it should be treated?
A simplistic analysis of my own pondering, but one I would be interested in hearing your own thoughts on.
I may have indicated my lax attitude toward "saving" the environment in the past. Much to my mother's chagrin, I revel in paper plates (still with the guilt, though) and only recycle because the nazi government here provide itty bitty waste bins and recycle garbage bins that are larger than mother earth herself.
Stephanie owned up to being an earth killer a month ago. I am sure if you scroll down in the comments of that same post, DeNae takes pride in driving her gas guzzling beast to the next-door-neighbour's party (or I could just be projecting my own image of DeNae on to you all). My dear friend MareeRose's blog has become the little voice that comes up every so often to remind me that I do have other options besides disposable cutlery.
As you well know, I am a firm believer that there is more to come after this life. Plenty of rewards for the good people of the earth, etc. And as I sat on my wonderfully reupholstered dining chairs today reading yet another news article about climate change and what needed to be done before the earth and all its inhabitants died, I realised two things and wondered a third.
1. I am not all too panicked at the prospect of the demise of the earth.
2. I realise that this makes me kind of a hypocrite. Believing that God made this beautiful Earth just for me and then not caring one whit what happens to this wonderful gift (kind of makes you sick, doesn't it)
3. I wonder if there are more God fearing folk kind of banking on the second coming of Christ to fix all the environmental issues that we have OR are there more of them trying to treat the earth the way it should be treated?
A simplistic analysis of my own pondering, but one I would be interested in hearing your own thoughts on.
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