Christmas

This Christmas was bittersweet.  It is the first Christmas that neither of us were home for (as was first Thanksgiving, New Year's etc.) which is a big downside to living so far away but we tried to make the best of the situation and ended up having a great Christmas with great friends!

To start out the Christmas season, I wanted to add a little decoration.  Australia is not big on the whole real tree thing (I did see some places to buy them but I was too scared to check out the prices) since there are not many places fir trees grow here.  I also didn't want to buy a big fake tree since I didn't want to spend that much money and I am not sure how long we are staying (and there is no way to bring it back to the US).  Instead, I settled on a small tree and of course, cute Australian stockings which I managed to find at Australia's version of the dollar store!

Despite having the Christmas decorations, it really didn't feel like Christmas here.  For one, it was warm/hot out.  It was probably between 80-90 for a decent amount of days around Christmas, which might sound nice to those experiencing a deep freeze right now but without air conditioning, it is terrible!  

Additionally, they didn't really get into the decorating here.  At Darling Harbour, one of the top touristy spots here, they had one big "tree" made up entirely of lights and 15ish caroling Santas.  These "Santas" were basically the big blow up plastic ones that were floating in the Harbour and singing.  And did I mention there were 15 of them!  Come on, they could of at least included some elves, a Mrs. Claus, and maybe some reindeer or something.  But no, 15 identical blow up Santas - I included pictures below from Christmas Eve.  Besides this tree and the caroling Santas, they had a few signs downtown that said "Happy Christmas" and I saw one tree in one park that had lights on it (Sadly, it looked pathetic since it was the only one).  Most people did not decorate the outside of their homes/apartments here so it wasn't really festive looking (Apparently if we went out to the suburbs we would have seen more lights.  We live closer to the city where there was basically nothing).  

Since I went on a rant about how they don't decorate, I will say that they did light up several of their buildings with a projector which was kind of cool:

We started the Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve by meeting a friend (and meeting many new friends) at an America/Canadian ex-pat party at the hard Rock Cafe in Darling Harbour.  We sat outside for the festivities (it was a beautiful night) which allowed us front row seats to the aforementioned caroling Santas, the lit-up Christmas tree, and Christmas fireworks.  At one point, the organizer of the event told us we shouldn't sit outside because it was too hard to meet people ... as it turned out it was the perfect spot because people came to us!  

Here is the Christmas tree made of lights.  You cannot tell from the picture, but most of the lights are words or of something (likes hearts, "joy", etc.)

 Fireworks with the city in the background!

I am honestly not sure why it looks like it is snowing in this picture or how in the world I was able to make the picture do this??  

This is a picture of the 15ish caroling Santas:

On Christmas Day, we were suppose to have a classic Aussie Christmas of a BBQ and cricket on the beach.  Unfortunately it rained the entire day so we improvised and did an Australian Christmas inside.  We had sausages, traditional Australian salad (lettuce, mangos, avacado, prawns), rice, fruit salad, and a traditional Brazilian dessert (I don't remember what it was called!).  Since beach cricket was out, we played beer pong instead!



Despite the rain, it ended up being a great Christmas.  Boxing Day (National Holiday the day after Christmas) was an added bonus as well :)

Aussie Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  

When we first brought up hosting an American Thanksgiving dinner to friends, I was shocked at how excited people were.  For those that didn't know (and yes, I was asked several times), Australians do not celebrate Thanksgiving   Shockingly, the Australian original colonists (who were most likely locked up for some petty crime since Australia started as a British penal colony) and Native Peoples of Australia did not come together for a feast at the end of Harvest Season.  They did however force the Native People (Aborigines) off the coast and into the desolate middle part of the country, which seems to be a terrible trend.  (For the record, I did look up who does celebrate Thanksgiving.  I knew Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving, but did you know that Liberia, the Netherlands, Norfolk Island, and Grenada also celebrate Thanksgiving?  And that it actually started as a religious holiday before later Americans turned it into a more secular celebration).

Now back to the enthusiastic responses ... so even though Australians do not celebrate Thanksgiving, they do watch a lot of American TV and movies; therefore, they constantly come in contact with references to Thanksgiving. Several wonderful ladies asked if they could dress up as Pilgrims and Indians ... which Adam and I thought was fantastic so of course told them that it would be awesome if they did.  Here is a picture of my friend Sarah dressed up like a beautiful Indian:

Of course, the most important part of Thanksgiving is the food!  This was my first attempt at making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  Knowing that we would probably be spending Thanksgiving in Australia this year, I attempted to pay attention to both my mom and Adam's mom during Thanksgiving and Christmas last year.  I must have learned something because I personally think all the food turned out fantastic!  

At the beginning of November, we were slightly concerned about whether or not we would be able to buy a turkey.  Luckily, while out running one day, we stumbled across a sign at the Butcher's down the road that said we could order our Christmas Turkey or Ham.  We walked in and asked if we would be able to order a turkey for the end of November instead and they knew exactly what we needed it for.  Apparently, there were several other families who were also hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner!  Although the turkey was delicious, I really hope I never have to pay that much for a turkey again (@ 14 lbs. cost about $80).  I think it was all worth it in the end!


For the actual meal, Adam and I split the cooking duties.  Our meal consisted of turkey, stuffing, gravy (which was the best part), green beans, rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and apple pie.  Overall, I think Adam is most proud of how he sutured the turkey.  After we stuffed the turkey, Adam used his sutures from a demo product he sells to sew the butt of the turkey closed.  Here is his handiwork:

And here is the feast!

Overall, it ended up being a fantastic Friendsgiving!  So much to be thankful this year!