It's sunny today, about 75 degrees. It stays light until 9:30 pm and even at 10 there is still some light in the sky. It totally does not feel like Christmas. It's not so much the warmth, it's more the long light evenings. Yesterday was about 50, gray and rainy. So during the day it felt a bit like Seattle in December, but then in the evening it stopped feeling like Seattle, even though it was still cold and rainy. There's something about daylight at 9 pm that says "not winter, not Christmas, not now."
Last week I went to a Christmas service for children at a church, and they sang a bunch of carols I knew and a few I didn't. That helped make Christmas more real. The words to one carol were wonderfully appropriate for the southern hemisphere:
Candle, candle, burning bright,
Shining in the warm summer light.
Candle, candle, burning bright,
Fill our hearts with Christmas light.
We're loving getting Christmas cards from friends and hearing everyone's news. That feels like Christmas. Today I ran some errands in the car, and for the first time the radio station was playing some carols, so that felt good. I think mostly this first year in New Zealand we're just watching ourselves to see how different things make us feel. Maybe next year we can then be more intentional to make choices about how to welcome each season.
People here have their favorite Christmas foods, things like strawberries and cherries. We have great fresh asparagus now, maybe that will continue until Christmas day. And the roses are absolutely gorgeous right now. So we'll have to create new Christmas traditions like strawberry shortcake or U-pick cherries. Yum. With roses on the table.
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