It is now summer in Australia and it always seems strange to talk to friends on the other side of the world who are preparing for winter!!! This year we seem to have gone from Winter to Summer so quickly that we missed Spring along the way! Needless to say a White Christmas is out of the question! Though I did have a taste of that during my visit to the USA a few years ago. We didn't see a lot of snow but the small amount we did see was really an experience. We're more likely to be experiencing electrical storms, 30 plus degrees celcius, and bushfires at this time of year.
Christmas in Australia is celebrated much the same way as anywhere else in the world I guess. Families get together, gifts are exchanged, and much food is consumed. The meals vary from traditional meals of roast meats and vegetables with plum pudding, to non-traditional BBQ's or seafood buffet lunches. After lunch, families catch up on the years events, backyard cricket matches are won and lost, and children (and adults) play with new toys.
Carols By Candlelight is one of the many popular activities in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It is generally agreed that it was started by radio announcer Norman Banks in Melbourne in 1937 after he saw a woman listening to carols alone by candlelight while walking home from work. He decided to do something to relieve the loneliness and isolation felt by so many during the Christmas period. He announced community carol singing for anyone who wanted to join in. The concept has grown in popularity over the years, and the recorded program is now broadcast the world over.
On Christmas Eve a major Carols by Candlelight concert is still held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne. These days Carols attracts approximately 30,000 people on the night but is also televised to about 2 million viewers across the country. Some of the finest entertainers in the country perform both modern and traditional christmas carols accompanied by orchestras and choirs. This year will be the 65th anniversary of CBC in Melbourne. Many towns and cities hold their own smaller versions of Carols by Candlelight. Here in our home city of Colac, Carols is held in the Memorial Square. Everyone takes a candle and sings Carols into the night. It's neat to watch the faces of the children, and lots of fun for the adults too.
My daughter Lakeisha has been a part of a mass school choir at our local Carols By Candlelight. It is quite a sight with everyone sitting around in the town's central park, candles lit. They do a great job every year and it is evident especially in the eyes of the young children. We try to attend each year if we can.
Christmas decorations can be seen from the shops to many houses and there are many concerts and parties. More and more people seem to be adorning their homes with masses of christmas lights, a concept that has been adopted it seems all around the world. The Boulevard in Ivanhoe (Melbourne) is renowned for it's spectacular display of decorated homes for some 40 years now, but now almost every major city has a multitude of decorated houses, even holding competitions for them. Many of these can be found on websites as well.. one of my favourites is Bill & Peg's at Lobethal, South Australia. Even here in Colac we have many houses which are decorated at this time of year.
Below you will find links to my favourite Christmas pages that I have found over the past years, as well as some of my own Christmas pages.
May I take this opportunity to wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and hope that the new year brings you happiness, health and prosperity.
Visit My Christmas Pages
My FAVOURITE recipe for
CHRISTMAS CAKE
What about trying out a
PAVLOVA
And christmas wouldn't be the same at our home without my dear Gran's recipe for
CHRISTMAS PUDDING
A couple of poems I wrote in previous years
A COCKER CHRISTMAS
and
CHRISTMAS MAGIC
These are some of my favourite Christmas pages.
Visit the Ultimate Santa Website at
WWW.CLAUS.COM
and another good one at
www.northpole.com
Santaland - for an old fashioned Christmas
and lots to do at
www.christmas.com
Old Jim's Christmas Page
Woodshed Web Christmas
Happy Christmas dot com
Merry Christmas dot com
Santa's Favourite Websites - a Top 50 site
Christmas Top Sites
YULELOVEIT
everything you need for your Christmas website decorating.
The Christmas Webring
MAKE YOUR OWN TREE MAZE
PLAY CHRISTMAS HANGMAN
You can find a huge range of Christmas links at
WWW CHRISTMAS LINKS
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