Its thirty something degrees. The humidity is close to a hundred and there is not a breath of wind to cool things down. As I lie on the scorching sand and watch my kids swimming in the waves through a shimmering haze of heat, I realise that we have survived yet another white Christmas.
White in a different sense of the word. Not treetops glistening and children listening to sleigh bells in the snow. Rather a seemingly ceaseless blizzard of white tulle, four tiered cakes and I do’s. A snowstorm of wedding rehearsals, chapel services and thousands of five course fine dining meals to be planned, prepped and served. Christmas time is crazy time when you work in the wedding industry in the Southern Hemisphere and it’s hard to get into the festive holiday mood when you are slogging 12+ hour shifts every day.
But now it’s almost over and time for us to join the rest of the world in celebrating the festive season with our family and friends. Time to get ready to welcome our families from Jo’burg and the UK as they join us in Port Elizabeth for a sunny seaside Christmas holiday. Time as well to dream about visiting them one year and treating our family to a real white Christmas in the UK, with snowmen and sleds, snow angels, mittens, roasted chestnuts and stockings hanging over fireplaces that crackle and pop with warm festive cheer.
One of our 2017 travel dreams is to take the kids to see snow, and as I searched for cheap flights to London I came across a cute blog post on Travelstart‘s blog comparing Christmas in South Africa to Christmas in England – Click here to check it out. This got me thinking about all the different ways that people around the world celebrate Christmas. Here is our story:
Our family’s British roots dictate that we celebrate Christmas with roast turkey and cranberry sauce, honey-glazed gammon, brussels sprouts and crispy roast potatoes. As December weather in South Africa is so hot, we share our huge heart-warming Christmas roast meal on Christmas Eve. We dress up in a different theme each year, and end our dinner with money-pudding and a few highly competitive games of Bingo.
All dressed up in the “Best of British” theme last Christmas – Can you guess the characters?
On Christmas day, the kids wake up super early to open their presents and then we eat cold turkey, gammon and salads washed down with some Pimm’s and ended off with Lu-Ann’s amazing Christmas trifle. After an afternoon nap, we head to the beach for a walk. We dip our toes into the cool sea and find a spot on the sand dunes to sit and watch the sun set over the ocean, while we reflect on the year that was, and dream for the year ahead.
Opening Christmas stockings around the (unlit) fireplace
We’d love to hear your family’s traditions in the comments section below.
Whatever you do, and however you celebrate, may your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white.
Yours in travel
Check out South African born UK Blogger, Jesse Scott Brown and UK born South African blogger, Shante Hutton talk about their SA vs UK Christmas experiences:
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