Monday, December 26, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
photos: christmas eve
Okay, technically these were on Christmas morning, but it was really still Christmas Eve after the "candlelight" (i.e., glowstick) service.
Friday, December 23, 2011
quicko: christmas plants
Trees: much, much smaller here. Not nearly as big a deal. Virtually all fake.
Poinsettias: sold. You can find them and a handful of people seem to realize they're Christmas-y, but they're not exceptionally prevalent.
Pomegranates: haven't seen any. Not sure if you can get them or not.
Holly: haven't seen any.
Wreaths: haven't seen any.
Mistletoe: haven't seen any. Assume people would know what to do with it, if possibly only from the movies.
Poinsettias: sold. You can find them and a handful of people seem to realize they're Christmas-y, but they're not exceptionally prevalent.
Pomegranates: haven't seen any. Not sure if you can get them or not.
Holly: haven't seen any.
Wreaths: haven't seen any.
Mistletoe: haven't seen any. Assume people would know what to do with it, if possibly only from the movies.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
quicko: christmas traditions
Although Christmas is huge in Australia, it doesn't have the same
extent of Christmas tradition -- or spirit, if you will -- of a northern
hemisphere Christmas. It's a very different vibe really. The
following are traditions that are major in America -- and not unheard of
in Australia, possibly even done, but just not to the same extent, from
what I can tell:
--Christmas trees (esp. real ones)
--decorations (inside and outside the house and inside the church)
--Christmas music (ex., Feliz Navidad isn't so big here as in America, go figure)
--Christmas cookies
--gingerbread houses
--caroling
--Christmas cards
--Christmas pageants
--Advent
Thankfully, though, the actual meaning of the holiday -- Jesus' birth -- is definitely celebrated, at least among Christians. In some ways, you could argue that there's more emphasis on His birth without all the additional fuss and trimmings -- and then you could argue on the other side that by making Christmas such a complete and full holiday it adds weight to the significance of His birth in beginning it all. I go back and forth. I miss the fullness of the Christmas season, but appreciate a more direct focus on Jesus.
And besides: my bus was completely decked out for Christmas today. How joyful was that!?
--Christmas trees (esp. real ones)
--decorations (inside and outside the house and inside the church)
--Christmas music (ex., Feliz Navidad isn't so big here as in America, go figure)
--Christmas cookies
--gingerbread houses
--caroling
--Christmas cards
--Christmas pageants
--Advent
Thankfully, though, the actual meaning of the holiday -- Jesus' birth -- is definitely celebrated, at least among Christians. In some ways, you could argue that there's more emphasis on His birth without all the additional fuss and trimmings -- and then you could argue on the other side that by making Christmas such a complete and full holiday it adds weight to the significance of His birth in beginning it all. I go back and forth. I miss the fullness of the Christmas season, but appreciate a more direct focus on Jesus.
And besides: my bus was completely decked out for Christmas today. How joyful was that!?
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
quicko: between a card and a hard place
I was looking for Christmas cards yesterday and, though I admit to only really scanning two stores, I was distraught to find next to no cards with any sort of Jesus-Mary-Joseph type sentiment behind them. Half couldn't even mention "Christmas." Of the three? cards with genuineness about them, two featured the wise men only. Now the wise men are lovely and part of the story and all -- but surely they're not exactly the highlight! I found one card with a general nativity scene (that thankfully managed to be pretty and sparkly, too!) ... tough times for Christmas in Australia.
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