A couple people have asked me what it's like to have Christmas in the summer. One notable difference is the food -- strawberries, watermelon, nice red and green peppers and lettuce and tomato salads highlighting the Christmas colors. It's hard to want to eat anything heavy because the weather is warm and the fresh fruit and vegetables are so lovely.
Apart from the food, the biggest difference is that Christmas begins the vacation season and ends the school year.
December for kiwis with kids is frantic. Not only do they need to buy Christmas presents and attend their office Christmas party, the kids' schools have their end of year awards assemblies, plays, and so forth. Universities and high schools have graduation and graduation parties. Most kiwis take a month off beginning either at Christmas or around New Years, so all those vacation preparations are happening as well. Lots of kiwis have said to me that they think Christmas would be so much more peaceful in the Northern Hemisphere, when there wouldn't be all those end-of-school-year events. Little do they know that we have done a great job creating miserably busy Decembers.
Dunedin is so quiet in early January. No meetings of any clubs or organizations, very small church attendance, no organized activities of any kind. Last year I loved it because I got so much writing done. Dave found it boring. It's somewhat like Europe where everyone takes vacation in July or August. Here the most popular vacation time is late December and the first three weeks of January. So it's true that Christmas is eclipsed to some extent by the rush to have a vacation and get prepared for it.
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