happy christmas

Happy Christmas!

Who says "happy Christmas"? Happy New Year, yes, happy birthday, of course, but happy Christmas? The Australians say it. I got a "merry" from time to time, but by and large I was a whole lot happier than usual. In a manner of speaking.

The whole ethos of Christmas is somewhat off down under. Primarily this is due to there being sun instead of snow, which changes things ever so slightly. There's minor little details of dressing from head to toe in I-don't-care-what-as-long-as-it's-warm versus gosh-where's-the-sunscreen? or oh-look-at-the-pretty-snow-I-feel-like-ice-skating-or-sledding-or-skiing versus the man-let's-hit-the-beach mentality.

Even if it's not actually snowing in America (take this year's Cincinnati for example), people are at least suitably chilled to dash from their cars into Target (not chilled enough to avoid Graeter's of course, but that's an entirely different matter) and able to encounter holly wreaths and Jingle Bells without feeling their world is entirely out of place. (Australians are clearly much more psychologically adapted.)

Then there's the lyrics of roughly three-quarters of Christmas carols. Dashing through the Sand just doesn't have the right ring to it, nor does Frosty the Sandsculpture. Its whole premise rather disappears, in fact. And even the songs that don't directly reference snow tend to allude to it, or somehow evoke images of cold, wintery nights (why else are chestnuts roasting on an open fire? You simply can't tell me they're sides for the burning sausages on the bar-b-que.).

But despite having completely the opposite seasons, Australians have clung like mad to their British roots and hung on to pretty much everything else, including Christmas cards, gingerbread houses, trees, lights, decorations and ridiculously rampant commercialism. I suspect they even kept fruitcake.

Christmas cards are fairly obvious, but initially I had to ask (and I thought it was a fair question, I really did) if gingerbread houses were made in the winter (say, July) or at Christmas. They're Christmas wares, though. Not that I actually saw one, but, yes, theoretically, Christmas.

The poor evergreens are the new kids on the block in Sydney. They just stand there, in every public place, the most overdressed, out-of-place characters imaginable. They stare glumly at the camera-toting public as they shrivel up with severe cases of palm envy and shiver for snow.

The lights and decorations are perhaps not quite as prevalent in Australia as in America, but I have a hunch that has more to do with culture, if we can can call it that, than any sort of seasonally provoked necessity.

And Santa! He of course makes an appearance in Australia as well (though I doubt many American children ever realized he actually must stop in Australia long before he hits America), but reindeer don't do so well in the heat, so he pulls out the reserves (does he keep them at the South Pole?) of boomers -- large, white kangaroos. He wears a little less, but still delivers coal to the naughty and presents to the nice.

Since Christmas is celebrated in summer, most Australians don't feel like having the feast-to-be-topped-by-nothing-save-Thanksgiving. Instead, there's lots of seafood and fruit, which all sounds very good, particularly considering it's bathing suit season. Imagine! I think that's why they're not quite as big on Christmas cookies as Americans are -- they've got to be back in bikinis before there's time for New Year resolutions!

And so it comes that finally both Australians and Americans wade their way through miles (kilometres) of wrapping paper and ribbon, cards and carols and treats and trees and finally end up left with the one teensy detail of how Christmas all started, that little bit about the Nativity and the first noel (whatever a noel is; I'm assuming it has something to do with a manger scene ...). And the traditions differ slightly, but lots is still the same. We all sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing and O Come, All Ye Faithful and Silent Night (sans the candles down under), and we all spend time with our families, and we all go to church, and we all stop to remember that it's not about any of the traditions or seasons, but about the gift of life that God gave the whole world in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ. And we all celebrate the birth of the Baby, knowing that He grew to be the One who died on the cross, and rose again, all because of His love for every single one of us. And we marvel at His sacrifice, and the miracle of His resurrection, and the magnitude of His love.

Joy to the world -- and a very merry Christmas!!