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No open fireplaces , no snow or hot roast (well sometimes a roast)

Christmas downunder is celebrated in sweltering heat , indoors or out.

Dinner is usually cold Christmas turkey or chicken with a salads , snacks , potato chips , nuts and plenty of beer and wine.

Alternately , BBQ steak and sausages outdoors and a dip in the swimming pool.

The neighbours have converted their front yards to full lit up Christmas theme , these houses bring in observing visitors from nearby suburbs when the displays are lit up and activated after dark.

It still didn't feel like Christmas to me this year , I couldn't understand what was wrong , I couldn't understand why I don't feel Christmassy.
Then this afternoon tradition struck and now it feels like Christmas to me , "AUSTRALIA POST ANNOUNCED THEY'RE GOING ON STRIKE FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT " , now it REALLY feels like Christmas.

Merinda wrote:No open fireplaces , no snow or hot roast (well sometimes a roast)

Christmas downunder is celebrated in sweltering heat , indoors or out.

Hi, Merinda -

While I love being "snowed in" with my soul mate, right now 24" of all this white stuff in my very steep driveway is 22" too much.

How about sending us some of your heat and sunshine?

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas, Merinda, and a Happy & Healthy New Year!!

(Hugs)

- SL and Virginia

We have a show here on, I think it is "The Discovery Channel" it is called "No Reservations." This guy travels all over the world, eating at varied and numerous restaurants. Today's show, he was in Australia and he said that Melborne is the "food capital" of Australia. He visited several restuarants and even Melborne's "chinatown" and was very complimentary of the food there.

Hope you have a great Christmas dinner too!

Love,

Virginia

Thanks ladies ,

If I've heard the news correctly , the postal workers have resumed work for now , meaning Christmas mail will get through , but the union has warned of more disruptions in the new year if their demands are not met.

Melbourne is well known for its vast variety of restaurants , Lygon Street Carlton holds the reputation , a tree lined street of restaurants that run both sides for a mile or so .

Believe it or not I've never seen snow , there are snow fields in Victoria but we don't get snow in the city. In 2006 we had the closest thing to a Northern Hemispere Christmas with an uncanny cold snap that saw Melbourne shiver on Christmas day , The nearby township of "Kinglake" experienced snow because its situated on top of a nearby mountain range , sadly Kinglake was partially wiped out early this year by the firestorm.

Virginia & SL
I would like to wish you both a merry Christmas and a happy (safe) new year .

No snow. I guess that's okay, it probably didn't snow in Nazareth either.

Zari

As I understand it, the historical Jesus was probably born sometime around April. The Pope moved christmas to December because the north Europeans wouldn't stop celebrating the Solstice.

It wasn't as big a deal as a holiday either. Our U.K. sisters might be better able to verify this than me, but wasn't the rise of the British middle class in victorian and post victorian times responsible for the rise of importance of christmas celebrations as we have been familiar with them?

What you consider to be true history sometimes seems to depend on which church you belong to. Some say that Christmas is a pagan holiday that has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus and ought not be celebrated. They will cite the tree as a pagan symbol. Others will say that the tree and holly originated with Martin Luther. All these arguements apply to Easter as well, and of course to Halloween which is not a religious holiday.

The feast of Santa Lucia (celebrated in Sweden and here in the Swedish Lutheran church, which I remember from my childhood) started also as a pagan celebration. Santa Lucia is thought to have originated as the Luci, which is or is not a diminutive of Lucifer depending on who you believe. The candles in Santa Lucia's hair and red sash on her dress now symolize light and the blood of Christ, but at one time symbolized the wax dripped into the eyes of a young virgin after her eyes were gouged out but before her throat was slit as a human sacrifice. Who knows?

I figure that the trees and holly and rabbits were all created by God so there is no harm in enjoying them.

Zari

Here in the Midwest, we got our first White Christmas since 1984. Only 7 inches here, but Wind Chills to below zero. Definitely a time to stay inside!

Hugs,

Bernice

The snow it Ct was nice for the holidays. Thankfully, it was already on the ground and people did not need to drive on snowy roads for the day.
Hopefully, the threat of snow and ice for New Year's eve will not occur.
I did miss the cold weather while in Fla for the past several years.