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| Gratuitous shot of my tomatoes... |
I'm from the UK, and in December's past I would be skating on black ice right about now, at this time of year. Hunting down Brussel Spouts and Satsumas for Christmas. Dragging real trees onto the roof rack and shopping in the sleet and cold and dark.
In December in England it is, quite literally, dark at 3.30pm. Vile.
I spent 25 Christmas days in England, and it never once snowed. I never once "enjoyed" the heralded "White Christmas". (Nor did I have to endure travelling in treacherous blizzards. A white Christmas, or indeed snow of any description, was never as romantic as it sounds...it turns grey, dirty and inconvenient before you can even find your mittens.)
I once had the rare treat of Christmas "off work". I worked in restaurants, and Christmas was, obviously, an intensely busy time of year. I had one singular Christmas Day off in a decade. I knocked off at around 9pm on Christmas Eve, and drove, excitedly, home for Christmas. This song would most certainly have been on my the mix tape I had playing in my car. Along with the heater, full blast.
Sounds all glistening and festive, doesn't it?
Try it in fog so thick that you literally cannot see beyond the bonnet of your red Festiva. Oh, joy of the season! Not! My shoulders so crunched up from leaning forward that I ached; my knuckles white with gripping the steering wheel in concentration.
Add the desperate need for the toilet into the mix - a 5 hour drive in dense fog? But I dared not pull off the motorway for fear that I actually would never be able to find my way back to the road and would spend my Christmas day in a servo with a whole load of other fog bound strangers. Or worse, alone with the servo attendant.
So, today, as I shopped for fresh raspberries and huge local strawberries, in my shorts and sunnies, I realised how bloody grateful I am for the fact that I live in Australia.
I am grateful for hot days and fresh fruit and the fact that I have ripe tomatoes in my garden before Christmas.
I am grateful that I do not have to work over Christmas, nor do I have to do any ridiculous late night drives through fog to be with my family.
I'm just a grateful kind of girl tonight...
Linking up with Maxabella, as I do...
i have always thought of christmas as summer, being from the southern hemisphere ... and my idea of a white christmas is totally romanticised ... !!
ReplyDeleteso lovely to read this. xx georgi
ahh now you see i've experienced two cold christmases, the last one was indeed a white one and since then christmas has never been the same for me. i *hate* warm christmases now and would happily swap each and every single one of them for a cold one every year.
ReplyDelete*love* the snow, love the cold, the bitterness of it nipping at your nose and cheeks, of the dark nights, of the fog on the motorway lol basically everything you describe not liking i LOVED.
one day i'll get back there with Guv and we will have another cold Chrissie!!
and i love that chris rea song!!
~x~
Love your Christmas spirit...
ReplyDeleteHaving always had summer Xmas a white one would be a change,(without the scarey fog) but so agree about not working Xmas, as a x nurse did too much of that!
ReplyDeleteI am from NYC and have had many a blizzard filled holiday season. Hubby is English and I refused to settle there permanently so am grateful too for Australia (our compromise that really is a dream)and mangoes, plums and fresh everything at Christmas time (and oh how you caused flashbacks to pre-4pm darkness - cringe!)
ReplyDeleteDeb @ home life simplified
Christmas is definitely summer for me. Sweltering through a roast turkey on a 35 degree Christmas day, followed by a swim in the pool/beach and an afternoon kip and then drinks in the warm night air.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I would love to experience a white Christmas. Grey, murky snow, blizzards and all. Just once.
I have always always wanted to experience a 'White Christmas' in my minds eye I would be in a New York apartment it would be snowing outside the fire would be raging and I would be sipping hot chocolate whilst sitting on the window seat watching the snow fall and the city lights. Ok, a girl can dream. We too are glad you are here, sharing our hot summers at Christmas time. Take care, cheers SpecialK XoXo
ReplyDeleteWhere I live, in the middle of the US, it is always a white Christmas. Snow up past your knees every year. Not much fog here. It might be nice to try a warm Christmas for once, but I do love the mountains where we live.
ReplyDeleteI spent one Christmas in the US, in New Jersey - where it snowed, i had some kind of disgusting, fever inducing lurgy, it was dark for most of the afternoon and the family i was living left me at home ( with my blessing ) to have Xmas dinner with their rellos.... so i was sick, alone, and in the horrid snow.
ReplyDeleteSo thankyou for making me appreciate our glorious Aussie christmases all that much more! ( Even if this year its look like cool temps and rain .... )
A white Christmas has never really appealed to me, so thanks for confirming that! Aussie summers are so fun and filled with light, that summer vibe of carefree and enjoying!!! You painted a very vivid picture though!!!
ReplyDeleteI just lurve the UK! Never been there in the winter, only after it so that I can see every where without the leaves blocking my view...
ReplyDeleteI've a dream of staying in a thatched cottage with a fireplace, near a mountain AND the ocean. LLandudno in Wales or Inverness in Scotland...
I have always loved that Chris Rea song. And for me home is always here. I spent one Christmas in Ireland when I was studying. It was freezing but not snowy at all - more slushy and dark.. I was so home sick I used to dream of the sun.
ReplyDeleteI have just found out that we probably won't be able to join my own extended family for Christmas at my childhood holiday home (still in the family) due to some issues here on our farm. I feel a bit sad but I guess for my kids where we are now is home and as long as the four of us are together we will be fine!
Maybe because I knew one day I would be back home, but I LOVED The Christmases we spent in London. The grey, the fov, the mush, the sludge - all of it. I was thinking just the other day how would love to be there this Christmas!
ReplyDeleteMerry merries, dear Lucy. Enjoy those raspberries! x
Hello Lucy,
ReplyDeleteike you I am so grateful to live here in lovely Oz. Especially this weekend as I'm at the beach with four mums and 8 kids and the rain has stopped - it's glorious!
I did have some white Christmases in Scotland, and enjoyed lots of fun esp as a child. But I'm used to a warm Christmas now. The mangoes, avocados, prawns and shrimps softened the blow when I first moved here!
Love it! I've had a few northern hemisphere Christmases. Disappointing! Germany, no snow. Vancouver, no snow, grey. Texas, I was in a bikini swimming! There was one magical Christmas in Idaho visiting my great grandparents, thick snow, magical, i was 6, heaven on a stick! This year will be Alice Springs, will let you know if there is such a thing as too warm. Enjoy your time off! Mel xx
ReplyDeleteI am from Edmonton, Canada. I promise you, your Christmas in England could never have been gloomier than the ones I spent in Edmonton. Dark at 3:30, snow, sleet, frozen roads. Can't see beyond your nose. And the temperatures around - 30 C.
ReplyDeleteNow, I live in New Delhi, India and I hear you! I love December in Delhi. Although not warm, still cool but just cool enough that we enjoy Christmas mornings and lunches in the garden, under the bright sun with our shades on!
Merry December to us!
"I'm dreaming of a foggy Christmas" doesn't have quite the same feel to it.
ReplyDeleteYour determination to be with your family on Christmas has exactly the right feel to it!
This is very interesting. I am from the tropics and have only experienced two seasons (summer and srainy seasons). That said, I always devour posts about spring, fall, and winter. I have always wondered what it feels like to have snowflakes on your skin, or to lie down on snow, build a snowman. I realize now it's not always winter wonderland for other people and other countries. Plus I have a newfound appreciation for our ever-sunny weather here. Happy holidays and cheers.
ReplyDeletexx
I've experienced both the hot (not a fan) here in Australia and the London ones your were talking about, but I loved every minute of them. I was actually lucky enough to experience the white Christmas in London one year and it was wonderful.
ReplyDeleteChristmas Eve was spent at the local pub sitting by the fire, drinking pints and playing cards. That Christmas was one of the best of my life. I suppose it was one of those romanticised ones.
BTW, how was your swim the other day?