I did an odd thing today. i sat in the garden on the daybed, soaking up the sun, and wrote some Christmas cards. Very incongruous. One should not be sunbathing whilst preparing for Christmas. And yet the shops are full of cards, gifts and decorations. I have no sense of it being near Christmas, and haven't yet developed any sense of urgency about it - despite the fact that I will be catering for 15 and we will be moving house between now and then. It just doesn't feel right. To be honest, I no longer have any inate sense of which month we are in - I no longer naturally know that it is November - I have to tell myself. Psychologically for me, it's about mid to end June. No particularly helpful given everything that needs to be done.
And I am confused about the approach to the festivities here. Christmas cards here are generally snow scenes, thatched cottages in the snow, Santa and some icicles - you know the sort of thing. I had to search high and low to find cards which I thought represented the real Australian deal - sun, sea, sand and kangaroos. But I wonder what makes them produce cards like that, and why they associate Christmas with weather conditions which never take place here. It's not as if everyone here is European!
I have made some decisions about things though. I won't be cooking a roast turkey dinner. We'll be having seafood, salads and that sort of thing. I think. Unless I come up with something else between now and then. We'll be going to the beach at some stage, and a lot of the day will take place outdoors. This is all assuming that the weather is good - which apparently isn't at all guaranteed. In fact, I'm told that Christmas Day has a bit of a reputation for being a bit damp. Which is disappointing - but we'll keep our fingers crossed!
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