And a pukeko in a punga tree

It’s Christmas time in Kiwi land.  Here are some random holiday related bullet points.

• I had been beginning to wonder whether or not people here got Christmas trees since I hadn’t seen a single one for sale or on top of a car.  Unsurprisingly, they do have Christmas trees here, they just don’t sell them at every grocery store and empty lot.  But it was easy enough to find a pop-up stand here in town where they’re sold.  And why wasn’t I seeing them being brought home on cars all over the place?  For the simple reason people put them inside their cars here to bring them home.
• The tree: it’s a long leaf pine, so a little different from the spruces we usually got in the US.  Because the needles are longer it’s a little harder to get the ornaments on.  But its much more fragrant.  The entire house smells of evergreen.
• The parades:  It seems like most towns here have Christmas parades.  The one in Johnsonville was on Dec. 2nd, which turned out to be a warm, sunny day.  It featured all of the things you’d expect in a parade – fire trucks, marching bands, and

  

  community group after community group of kids teams and schools, local businesses, and clubs.  And of course, riding sweep, Santa.

• We’ve seen two Santas now, and my n=2 observation of NZ Santa – he’s much less expressive.  He still says “ho ho ho, merry Christmas”, but it’s much more matter-of-fact.

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  Wellington itself also put on a good to-do for the holiday.  Last weekend they closed off the main street and had all sorts of food trucks and activities such as ice skating, a snow globe you could go in with snow, and all sorts of shows and performances ranging from dance schools doing a Christmas show, to something on a high swing that we didn’t get to see.  And lots of Christmas characters such as Rudolph and Frosty walking around.

• And what about Christmas itself?  For us, we’ll stay home and open presents, then head over to a friend’s house in the afternoon for a BBQ.  Boxing Day (the 26th) is an official holiday here as is New Year’s and the day after New Year’s (I guess people must really party here if they need two days to recover), so almost every office, including the National Government is closed for the week between Christmas and New Year’s.  We’re hoping to get out to the bush to do some camping finally.
• It’s a little bit strange that it’s summer time, but not all that different from the holidays insay, Florida.  What is strange is that you don’t see Christmas lights here at all.  I mean that literally.  It’s summer, so it’s still light out past 9 pm, so while people do put them out on their houses, you only see them if you happen to be out later in the evening, not on your way home.  That feels more different than the summer thing.
• The title of the thread is the kiwi version of 12 Days of Christmas that the kids in Hop’s school sang for their holiday concert.  I’ll see if I can find the lyrics to post.  And with that, wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday from down under!