A Kiwi Christmas
- Dec 19, 2016
- 5 min read
Location:
Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
While Christmas is a wonderful, magical time, it is also a time when families and friends reunite. We live in a very busy, chaotic world where we don’t always get to see our loved ones as much as we would like. Unfortunately, that’s life. But Christmas, it’s probably the only time in the year where everyone comes together, regardless of what has happened since the last big get-together. When you are on the other side of the world, a simple reunion is not always possible. While I don’t get home sick as much as what I thought I would, Christmas is the only time of year where it would be nice to be surrounded by all my family and friends.
Christmas should be celebrated in the ‘Winter.’ Or, should it? It’s all based on what you know, what’s familiar to you. Both have their positives and negatives. A cold Christmas means a cosy festive season, with everyone in their pyjamas, the fire on and the children anxiously waiting by the window for a ‘White Christmas.’ On the flip side, Christmas on the ‘Beach’ may seem a bit strange. What if I were to remind you that the two best times of the year are ‘Christmas’ and ‘Summer.’ Imagine having both together! Christmas with really, nice weather so you can enjoy ‘The Great Outdoors’! You could even go on a little holiday somewhere! While it sounds lovely, the only problem is, when you have everything together, there is nothing else to look forward to. And for a lot of Kiwi workers, they take most of their holidays during the Christmas, which means they must wait for at least another eleven months until their next major time away from work! Like I said, it’s all about what you know. Christmas for me is Santa in his big, heavy, warm suit, not Santa ‘Catching a wave!’
One learns to make the most of a less than desirable situation. Usually, when your expectations are so low, it’s easy to impress. Don’t dwell too much on what your missing, focus on what you do have. Get out, and embrace the season, for it is ‘The most wonderful time of the year!’ Auckland’s most prized Christmas attraction, is a large, oversized, somewhat ‘Creepy’ Santa, on the corner of the ‘Farmers’ department store building on ‘Queen Street,’ the city’s main thoroughfare. Generations of Kiwi’s have marvelled over its larger than life form. The city’s most iconic landmark ‘The Sky Tower,’ which is the city’s tallest structure, is illuminated in a series of festive colours from red to green. During the season, it owns the skyline! Mind you for that matter, at any time of the year, it dominates Auckland’s ever-growing skyline. Last year in Melbourne, one of our favourite Christmas attractions was the incredible ‘Lego Christmas Tree’ at ‘Fed Square.’ The tree finds itself in a new location every year. What are the chances of it being in Auckland a year later? The city where we have taken our adventures to! From ‘Fed Square’ to ‘Aotea Square,’ something tells me we are being stalked by a Christmas Tree!
This Christmas is our first away from home where we have a nice house to enjoy it in. We made sure to make the most of it. From a fridge packed with food, to a selection of items that would win the crowd over at any party, to the more traditional items found at most festive celebrations. To make it even more impressive, I found myself with a rolling pin, and some mince. Even the sponge and fruit weren’t safe! A house filled with all your favourite things, that is ‘A Happy Christmas.’
On the day before Christmas, we drove into the CBD to get some festive cheer. We stopped off at a rather fancy coffee shop. Me being me, you should know that this is no ordinary coffee shop. It is Christmas, so it must be somewhere very special. What better place to stop than a somewhere that serves the most amazing ‘Rudolph’ ice-cream to enjoy with a nice coffee! No other words are needed…
Christmas morning, myself and my Jay Jay exchanged presents while indulging in some rather cheeky ‘Quality Street,’ as we embraced the day that it is! We were both very excited when we opened by mother’s parcel that she sent us, filled with all our favourites from back home. You can't beat ‘Jacob’s biscuits’ and ‘Cadbury’s Irish Chocolate!’ We will saviour them! So far, our Christmas is very relaxing. It might not have been the most traditional. Not only were our loved ones missing, but the turkey never showed up! Thankfully a rather juicy ham cooked in ‘Coca-Cola’ didn’t let us down. I know, who would have thought it, but it works! The highlight of our Christmas dinner was food that was simply full-on-flavour. What an impressive meal it was. We had the works! From ‘Goat’s Cheese Crostini’ to ‘Beef Wellington’ to chocolate dipped strawberries! While our house mates, Ralf and Valda were both away, Gordon who was supposed to follow Valda down to her mothers, caught a bug and instead celebrated with us. With this being our third Christmas away from home, it was certainly our best.
With both of us being off work for a couple of weeks, we decided to make the most of it with a couple of trips out of Auckland. We did return for ‘New Year’s.’ The great thing about having a car available to you is that you can go anywhere. The two of us jumped in the little red car, drove through the city, over the harbour bridge, and found ourselves bumper to bumper as we made our way to the coastal town of ‘Davenport’ for the best views of the city’s fireworks display. With not much time to spare, eventually, I quickly jumped out while Jason tried to find somewhere to park. It was no easy task for him. And in doing so, he missed the new year’s countdown! He didn’t miss very much. The show wasn’t that great. A series of fireworks on the city’s tower, and that was it. I would have expected a bit more! After a long night behind the wheel, just for some fireworks, we eventually made it back, balder, greyer and a year later! Jason who fell into his bed, quickly came back to life when I mentioned ‘Disaronno’ on the rocks. We couldn’t go to bed without having a little ‘Cheers,’ which turned out to be quite a big one!
No matter where you are, what you have, what you don’t have, none of that matters. Christmas is a time of year that our hearts should be filled with the magic of the season and all the happiness that comes with it. Need reminding of why it is the most magical time of the year, stick on a Christmas classic and lose yourself in it! Remember one thing, it’s going to be another twelve months until Christmas comes a knocking again, so enjoy all the hype around a man, and his big white beard! Until next time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
By Andrew
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