Christmas in Australia

This year I celebrated Christmas in a completely different way. In Australia, Christmas Eve is not celebrated on the 24th of December, instead, the gift-giving takes place on the 25th of December after waking up, as Santa brings the presents overnight. Harry was super excited and eager when we told him that Santa will come soon. He was allowed to pick out the Christmas tree, although it was not the most beautiful one ;)

Jenna has a friend who makes little elves herself, and we bought a red one for Freyja and a blue one for Harry. These elves are sent by Santa to observe the children during Christmas time. If they are "naughty", the elves tell Santa and there might be no gifts on Christmas. However, the elves themselves can be a little mischievous and change their place every night, sometimes hanging from the ceiling lamp or in the refrigerator, for example! The story says that children can only observe the elves and not touch them, otherwise, they lose their magic. It was very exciting for Harry to search for the elves every morning, and I think it's a lovely idea for the Advent season :)

Usually, on the 24th of December, we only watch Christmas choirs on TV and sit comfortably together. When I told my host family that Christmas Eve is celebrated in Germany, we all decided to go to a restaurant together. Harry was very excited because we usually don't eat out with the kids.

In the morning of the 25th of December, Harry naturally woke me up at 6:15 am (!) after he discovered all the gifts and the half-eaten food for the reindeer. Freyja, on the other hand, was still very tired and started to slowly understand what was going on. Then it was time to unwrap the presents! Harry systematically unpacked his mountain of gifts before he handed out ours ;). There are always a few gifts that come "directly" from Santa, these are put in the stocking, the other gifts are from family members.

For me, the gift search was not very long this year, as I had to shop for fewer people than usual ;) It was important to me that every family member likes and can use every gift. So I got a CD player in Harry's favorite color blue with an audio play (which is now listened to by Jenna in the car), and I chose an inflatable pool for Freyja for the garden. Of course, I also got something for Jenna and Scott and both grandmas and grandpas, as well as aunts and uncles, because I am always welcome there.

Harry im neuen blue Cheetah (blauer Gepard) Outfit

In the morning, we drove to Melbourne to Scott's sister 'Auntie Lauren'. This year, she and her husband hosted the Christmas lunch for the whole family. They moved into their house in mid-2017, so they had never been able to celebrate Christmas with the extended family at their place before due to space constraints. Everyone brought something homemade, and we had a huge table with a variety of food for about 20 people! It was very unusual for me to celebrate Christmas with a big meal in the 28°C warm midday sun, but I was warmly welcomed by everyone, and we had a great day.
The second round of gift-giving took place around 3 pm and there was a huge mess on the living room floor as the four kids scattered their gifts everywhere! The KK Presents of the adults (Kriss Kringle - anonymous gift sharing), similar to the German Wichteln, were also distributed. I was asked in November if I wanted to participate, as gifts with a value of about $50 are bought, but I decided not to participate because I think it's nice to be part of the tradition. I drew Laurens husband Chris, whom I had only met twice before, but with a lot of advice, I found something that he was happy about in the end! I received a tour of Sydney, which guides you and four other members through the city on your phone by answering various questions :)