A Merry Christmas from Laurelle and Craig at the Christmas Tree Farm:

and from myself, Sue Bride, aka Sueblimely:

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For those who bought a tree from our farm: Please remember you can return your tree for mulching after Christmas. If we are not open you can throw it over the fence.

We hope to see you here again next year!

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Merry Christmas from DownUnder

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I take photos of our Christmas tree each year, on its own and with my family standing around it. It creates a lovely lasting  memory.

This is our tree which we got  from the Christmas Tree Farm

Do you remember day 8 when I showed you a video of Christmas Tree lights in Vermont South, Melbourne? I went to visit the house a few nights ago and took some photos. Wow the house really is spectacular:

Canada

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I am pleased to introduce a guest post by my friend from Norway, Renny Bakke Amundsen, who is author of the popular blog RennyBA’s Terella:

Christmas in Norway brings a lot of traditions, myths, habits and cultural highlights. Remember, we are on top of the northern hemisphere (the capital, Oslo; 60°N) in Scandinavia, where the return of the sun – winter solstice – has a significant impact and has been celebrated thousands of years back.

We call it Yuletide and the idea behind this is that the year turns like a wheel, The Great Wheel of the Zodiac, The Wheel of Life, of which the spokes are the old ritual occasions. In Norwegian wheel is “hjul” pronounced about the same as Yule. At this time of year, we have winter and snow with a temperature around – 5C (23F). In Oslo; the sun is up 5 hours a day (equally 19 hours at summer solstice). So no wonder I call it significant and that we look for lightening in a dark and cold period of the year. With that in mind, let me share some memories and traditions:

Traditional Norwegian Yule food:

As the name implies, feasting is a major part of Yuletide traditions.  At Christmas Eve we have pork ribs and coincidentally that is served cold at Christmas Day accompanied by huge feasts of a usually smorgasbord.

Here we are talking about recipes passed down for many generations and I consider myself lucky having a mom who still holds on to them. From my childhood I clearly remember the smell of Christmas in our house weeks before the Holiday. It was a hectic period of course, as everything should be ready, clean, fresh and prepared. My mom and grandmother did most of it in the kitchen with fresh meat coming directly from the butcher.

Nowadays we start this buffet at my parent’s house around noon and it lasts until 6PM at least. We are eating all the time, but most of all talking and enjoying each others company. This is the time when we share and remember the passing year and keep each other updated on plans for the year to come. Grandpa and Grandma is curios about their grandchildren’s future dreams and ambitions as well, of course

Yule Log:

As told; To celebrate their belief in the powers of the gods, the Norsemen (Vikings) held festivals. The father of the Gods was Odin or Thor, commonly called the Yule Father (referred to the sun). The original Yule Log Ceremony was a festival celebrating the sun during the winter solstice, which occurs close to the time we celebrate Christmas today. After the Norman invasion of England in 1066, the Yule Log tradition was passed on to the British and evolved to the tradition that it is today.

In the picture you see Yule Log as Christmas decorations, or a choir – my sister’s speciality!

On my blog; RennyBA’s Terella, there are plenty of more posts about Norway at Yuletide and I hope you’ll enjoyed this guest post as well as the one at my blog as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them:

• Norwegian Christmas Day Smorgasbord:
• Christmas Tree and food Traditions in Norway:
• Yuletide Nisse and old world food in Norway at Christmas:
• Christmas myths like Santa or Yule Nisse from Norway:

(Thank you for a wonderful and comprehensive look into Christmas in Norway, Renny, and for taking time out of your busy schedule to write this for us.)

This means that our weather varies a great deal throughout the country, ranging from a Tropical climate in the north to Temperate in the south. The very far north of Queensland is equatorial and desert covers 18% of the country. We have alpine heaths, mangrove swamps, barrier reef islands and tropical rainforests.

December in Australia can bring extreme heat and even cyclones. Snow is sometimes to be seen on Mt Wellington in Hobart, Tasmania. I was on the mountain in January once when to my great surprise it snowed. I was not dressed for such an event! Brrr.

Hottest Christmas Days in Australian capital cities:

• Sydney - 1868 – 39c
• Adelaide – 1888 – 42c
• Melbourne’s -1907 – 41c
• Canberra’s – 1957 – 37c
• Perth’s- 1968 – 42c
• Brisbane - 1972 -39c

Information courtesy of the weather zone

A Montage of Australian Christmas Images

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Bondi Beach Christmas Day

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While Britain is experiencing some of its worst snow conditions, some british experience the more clement weather of Australia for Christmas

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