Christmas in New Zealand

My Christmas in New Zealand - Christmas past and Christmas present.

My Town

Pictures

Junk Room

My Family

Index

[Christmas Title]

Christmas in New Zealand is a time of holidays, picnics, barbcues and beaches. It is the start of summer here.

The Christmas decorations on this page, while still being traditional in many respects, will also reflect the difference in seasons. The border on this page is the New Zealand Pohutukawa tree flower, which is our Christmas Tree - the equivalent of the European Holly.

The best memories I have of Christmas are, of course, as a child. The exitement building as The Day got closer and closer, and then the agony of trying to get to sleep on Christmas Eve, knowing that Santa Claus would not come with the presents until I was fast asleep.


	If you have read something about me, then you will know that I had no Dad for all those Christmases, but my Mum's brothers and sisters made sure that I always had a great supply of new toys and things in my Christmas stocking

When I woke in the morning, the first thing I did was to line all the presents up on the bed, then try to work out what might be in each one before opening any. Then I would start to open. But.... I did not tear all the wrapping off, oh no, I would open only a few, then spend some time with those toys, or if a book, looking at it. Sometimes I might still have unopened presents until well into the day.

Those days, Mum and me lived with my Grandmother, so on Christmas Day there was a great family gathering for the mid-day meal. Always a great feast. None of the summer salad fare then. A traditional roast meal, with hot plum pudding and custard to follow.

In the evening we would go to my Grandma's sisters' house for a quieter meal and play some of the indoor games that they had stored away for special occassions.

After becoming a teenager, Christmas began to change, the emphasis was no longer on loads of presents, and the magic of Santa Claus had gone, my Grandma had passed on to a better place, and the family gatherings had faded away.

After some years passing during which Christmas had become to mean summer holiday time, I got married and started my own family.

Now, instead of being the child, I was now a parent, and Christmas took on a different mood again. Decorations, family time, and presents for the little ones.

Of course, time passes, and the family has grown up and gone their own ways, and now I am on my own. But.... do not feel sad, my eldest daughter and her 2 children live not far away,

and I go there for Christmas Day and enjoy a family meal, then on the day after I go a bit further afield to my other daughter's place, and share that day with my other grandchildren.

Of course, we must not forget what Christmas is really about....

Music - The First Noel

Updated March 23, 2002