Christmas Down Under… Back to Blog
The winner of TO TEMPT THE DEVIL is…Jen M. And the winner of the $15 gift card is…Anne! Congrats, ladies!!
Let’s go Down Under for the holidays! Awesome author CJ Archer is here to share some of her Australian traditions with us. And, in addition to the holiday fun and a great recipe that she’s posting, CJ is giving away a copy of her new release, TO TEMPT THE DEVIL, and there is a $15 Amazon.com or B&N.com gift card up for grabs (winner’s choice!).
CJ, I’m so glad that you came to the party! And thanks for sharing your Christmas with us!
A Dinky Di Aussie Christmas
(Translation: A real Australian Christmas)
Thank you for having me on your blog, Cynthia.
December is summertime here in Australia, and that means Christmas day could be celebrated in 40+ degree heat (translation: 104+ Fahrenheit). But we’ve never let that stop us from enjoying a traditional Christmas, with a few Aussie twists thrown in to make the silly season memorable.
In my family, no matter the weather, we have a full hot midday meal – Turkey, ham, more varieties of vegetables than you can count after a few glasses of bubbly, and warm plum pudding with brandy butter. Do not, under pain of death, forget the brandy butter.
But a lot of Aussies are moving to a more non-traditional, weather-appropriate feast, including ice cream pudding (recipe follows). I have a crazy aunt (doesn’t everyone?) who once made cold soup for entrée. The less said about that year’s Christmas the better.
Poor Santa hasn’t really worked out that he needs to dress accordingly when he stops Down Under. He turns up to the shopping centres in full red suit and black boots as if he’s trekking through the Arctic circle. He’s the “official” Santa, however, so I suppose he doesn’t have a choice. The jolly old fellow who joins my extended family’s pre-Christmas bbq lunch usually sweats it out for a few minutes in full garb, then starts to shed his clothing as the day warms up until he’s left in nothing but his singlet and stubbies (translation: shorts). Boots get replaced by thongs (translation: flip flops, NOT what you Americans think it is, unless that’s Santa’s preference too).
Christmas signals the start of our long summer school holidays, so Boxing Day is the day to head to the beach and soak up some sunshine and surf. It’s also the time that reminds me why I love the festive season in Australia – warm, lazy evenings sitting outside with family and friends, drinking a cool beer or white wine, and watching the kids play under the sprinkler. I wouldn’t want to spend Christmas any other way.
Recipe for (quick and easy) ice cream pudding:
Ingredients:
3 cups any mixture of dried and glace fruits and nuts
1/4 cup Brandy, Grand Marnier or Cointreau (or a 1/2 & 1/2 mix)
3 litres vanilla ice cream, softened
1/2 cups chopped blanched almonds or pecans
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon
Chocolate Ice Magic and glace cherries (optional)
Method:
1. Soak fruit and nuts in alcohol for 2-3 hours.
2. If using blanched almonds, lightly toast them.
3. Fold everything into softened ice cream. Pour into pudding basin or similar shaped container. Cover and freeze until firm and set (approximately 2-4 hours).
4. Decorate with chocolate ice magic and cherries (optional).
***
Thanks for sharing that great recipe, CJ! Now it’s time for our commenters to share…what’s the most unusual holiday tradition that you have? Or a really fun one that you’ve heard of over the years? I think I want to start a Santa in thongs (and I’m not talking flip flops) at my house. Leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway for TO TEMPT THE DEVIL and the $15 Amazon.com or B&N.com gift card.
And, speaking of sharing…here’s the blurb for CJ’s new book, TO TEMPT THE DEVIL:
He’s dark and dangerous…and she can’t stay away…
Seven years have passed since Rafe Fletcher fled London. Now he has returned to make amends, only to find his brother, James, bound for debtors’ prison. Unable to clear James’s debts, Rafe does the next best thing, promising to watch over his brother’s betrothed in his absence. There’s just one problem: the shy, sweet girl he once knew has grown into an alluring young woman—one who wants absolutely nothing to do with a man like him.
Lizzy Croft isn’t fooled by Rafe’s dark good looks; she remembers all too well the hot-headed rogue he once was. But when Lizzy is framed for murder, she has no choice but to trust the man who once beat his brutish stepfather half to death, the man whose recent past is shrouded in mystery—the man who is slowly, inexorably winning her heart. Loving him would be the greatest risk of all…
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I don’t have any unusual ones, but I do love driving around and looking at all the Christmas lights! Some people go a little overboard with the lights.
ehaney578 at aol dot com
We don’t have any unusual holiday traditions – we pretty much just do the regular stuff – though sometimes I do twist it up and go to a movie later in the evening with some friends but pretty much we spend the day quietly eating and spending time with family. The ice cream pudding sounds really interesting. Thanks for sharing the recipe and for the giveaway!
We don’t have any unusual holiday traditions. Also I do not know of any. But I would love to be entered. Loved recipe.
Depends on what santa looks like, if he is big and jolly like they saw, no thong for me, rather have him in the flipflops, but Joe Manganiello as santa this year, hell yes I want to start the thong tradition also.
I don’t have any unusual traditions. We have a very long standing tradtion in my family of Christmas every year. I have a large family and we have to rent a hall for Christmas. We have been going to the same place for 32 years. We have 100+ people and have tons of food. We get to sit around and eat, have lots of conversations, have our kids all hang-out and some of the family this is the only time we get to see each other (other than funerals). Also lots of card playing and poker going on.
As we unpack the kids ornaments to decorate the tree we stop and talk about the memories associated with them and the year they received them. Makes decorating the tree extra meaningful.
Santa in thongs..?? Hahahahaha!! Love it. Our funny tradition is on Christmas Eve we have “ugly Christmas sweater” contest. Lots of laugh and great pics.
We don’t have any unusual traditions. We just like to make at least one nontraditional dessert every year.
I do live in the South, so we sometimes get santas in sunglasses, wearing trunks, or on surfboards. It seems like that would be the standard costume of choice for Aussie santas! Plum pudding with brandy butter sounds yummy…although I can’t imagine having a full heavy meal, with all the ovens and burners going, in the heat of the Australian summer. Maybe your aunt was the only sane one…LOL!
We don’t have any unusual traditions either. We have a nice dinner Christmas Eve, then we watch holiday movies all night. At midnight we give out the presents and them stay up a few hours opening them.
Christmas Day we make a big breakfast and hang out and play with our new gifts. 🙂
Thanks for the giveaway!
Carla
Bookmonsterreviews@yahoo.com
I love watching holiday movies. It’s a beautiful tradition and a great way to relax before or after the big day.
It depends on what you think as unusual. We go to sauna on Christmas Eve before we eat and open the presents, we go to get the Christmas tree from our own forest and watch the declaration of Christmas peace on tv (If you want to find out what that is, check out Wikipedia and YouTube).
Hiya CJ and Cynthia! 🙂
Me and mum have a tradition where we get all our x-mas presents wrapped and our cards written before the 1st of Decemeber. Then on the 12th we decorate the whole house.
It’s not unsual but it is a fun tradition to see who can finished their presents and cards first 😀
Kind Regards,
Michelle Louise Pratley
Scotland
michellelouisepratley@yahoo.co.uk
Chuckling about Santa in a thong! 🙂
We have a warm Christmas here in South Texas, though not as warm as Australia! I can’t come up with an “unusual” tradition for our household. We do the usual…get up early, unwrap gifts, and then visit with friends & family throughout the day. I can share an “unusual” Christmas day occurrence from a few years back. We were worried about having enough lawn chairs for visitors (it was very warm that year). My husband pulled out a hideous plastic chair from who knows where & I quickly vetoed it. No way was that going out with my nice set. His solution, to place it front & center in the front yard & spray paint it. Our neighbors had quite the laugh! We still have that ugly chair & now he wants to put it out front every year. 🙂
I can’t imagine a warm christmas, although here in the midwest, it hasn’t been really cold for a number of years!! I don’t think we have any unusual christmas traditions – I would like to start one – minimal presents, and just go out for a very good meal!!
we do the ugly sweater around here and winner gets to open the first present of the year
We leave Santa and his reindeer snacks before the kids go to sleep. It started a couple of years ago with just cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Now we make sure that Santa has healthy snacks and a healthy drink (like bottled water) and each reindeer has its own snack plate with different types of vegetables. My husband thinks we’re crazy, but it’s something that my kids and I plan ahead for and then have a really good time doing before they go off to bed. Of course then Santa always leaves them a “Thank You” note!
Happy Holidays!
Julie K
kornhsl@yahoo.com
I grew up in Australia. I have family there and we would have the most wonderful Christmas parties. My parents have passed away but I remember my Mother dressing up as Santa and the little kids never knew it was her. I do miss some of the goodies like vegemite, tim tams and mint slices.
Tim Tams – ah yes, the unofficial Aussie food. I eat one a day. For the uninitiated, they’re a delicious chocolate biscuit.
does chasing after four legged babies count as an unusal tradition? I do it every year as they steal ornaments of the tree if they are placed too low on the tree. And since some of the babies are fast (retired racing greyhounds) that isn’t always easy.
When my Dad was alive we would spend Christmas Eve with his brother and family, and we would enjoy a Scandinavian Christmas tradition of Lutefisk and Lefse. My husband told me the other day, that I was never going to get him to eat Lutefisk.
We don’t have any unusual Christmas traditions, but for New Years eve my hubby’s family throws a glass of water out the door & they rub a raw egg on their body & then throw it in the street. I kind of wish I knew how wierd they were ahead of time. LOL, LOL. Happy Holidays.—Rachel
we don’t have any unusal Christmas traditions. I have only one that I have kept going for the last 20 years. My daughter (at age 3) was very persistant about wanting to open a present on Christmas eve (I was raised that presents were opened on Christmas day and had continued that tradition) so I allowed her to open 1 and she was very happy. The present was a Christmas themed nightgown. 20 years later this is still a present that my daughter expects to open on Christmas eve..Even though each year she knows exactly what will be in the wrapped present – she is as excited as the first time she was allowed to open a present on Christmas eve. This has now become a tradition for her 2 year old son as well.
Thanks for the giveaway Happy Holidays!
Cynthia – perhaps your Santa in thongs can go with your hat-only wearing outfit you had not too long ago. Ha ha.
We don’t have any unusual Christmas traditions but I would like to start a tradition of going south for the winter! I live in Illinois so it is almost always cold around Christmas and would love to be in a warm climate! Australia would be wonderful!
Hmmm, unusual tradition… I really can not think of one… but we do enjoy giving our dogs and cats their own stockings and presents under the tree.
I wish we had unusual traditions, but we don’t. All are very traditional. We always have fondue for dinner on Christmas eve and the kids get to open their presents from each other right before bed. I do make them all go to bed before me though so Santa can come (even though two are teens now).
kesummer69(at)gmail(dot)com
Nothing unusual for our family. I don’t think I know anyone with any strange traditions either. You thong idea might be a little scary depending on who is in the house ;).
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing Miss CJ and nice to meet you! That cold treat sounds quite delicious!! Miss Cynthia, you crack me up! I love the “Santa in a Thong” idea!! Well some Santas at least! As for unusual traditions I cannot think of anything off the top of my head. I guess we are just simple folk! 🙂
Thank you, Rana. Yes, I agree – Santa in thongs of any variety would definitely depend on the Santa. I have a few candidates in mind…
Not sure if “hide the pickle” ornament is known all over the US or in other countries, but we have a similar tradition and it is hide the ugliest ornament and everyone has to try to find it. This ornament has changed every year but we usually go to the store and buy 2 of the same “ugly” ornament so everyone knows what they are looking for. We only hide the one ornament and then the first to find it wins the traveling trophy for the year and the 2nd ornament. My mom keeps all of the ornaments from each year so there is a full set on her Xmas tree. Let me just say there are some ugly ones. 🙂
We always have mimosas on Christmas eve morning and Christmas morning. This has been a tradition for years and my sister and I really enjoy it. Our family sometimes do the traditional dinner but other times we my have fajitas with all the fixings. It’s just what we want to have that day. So this year, who knows….
Our tradition isn’t unusual but it’s a fun one. We watch holiday movies all day. It’s amazing how many movies there are out there from the sentimental to the funnies.
My father in law in dutch so we kept his traditions going in our house by having my son set out his shoes on the fireplace then on St Nicholas day they get filled with small treats
What a gorgeous idea! I love it!
Ok so maybe not totally exciting but every year on Christmas Day (since before I was born) we have spaghetti alige(sp?). It’s spaghetti with an anchovie sauce. Gross but most like it. Mostly our traditions include food. Can’t complain about that. 🙂
we have secret santa gift exchange but in ours you can take someone elses present when it is your turn so a female can end up with a male gift or vice versa…some times it is hilarious!!
The only unusual tradition that I can think of is waiting until Christmas Eve to put up the tree and decorate it. I never liked the idea, no chance to really enjoy it. Have a Happy Holiday.
My family is mostly German so we have lots of German food for christmas love Cherry Stollen it is my favorite holiday bread.I also like your recipe CJ as it is an adult icecream and i won’t have to share with my kidos lol. They always eat my icecream evil moochers lol…One tradition I kept from my mom is santa jammies… every christmas eve you get a new set of pj’s so santa can find you. My boys like it cause they get nice new soft pj’s to wear… Thanks again
It is an adult ice cream – I never thought of it like that. It’s delicious too.
We go the the Waffle House for 1 meal every Christmas.
Our tradition is simple every year the kids get to add a new holiday ornament to the tree. Most of the time its handmade.
Its fun going through past years and seeing who added what to the tree 🙂
We have no unusual traditions for Christmas except perhaps the required sequence for opening presents. My granddaughter must open hers first, then DD#2, then me because DD#1 insists on going last. Don’t know how this evolved because as kids we always took turns.
Thanks for the giveaway, CJ, and congratulations on your new release.
Thank you, Donna.
We don’t have any unusual traditions.
We don’t have any unusal or really fun ones, but I just got Elf on a shelf and can’t wait to start on this new tradition this year. I think my kids will have a lot of fun with it
oops *unusual* 🙂
Elf on a shelf? Sounds cute but I don’t know what it is.
We just make sure the family all gets together to spend time with each other. The presents are things of the past we dont do that anymore because of cash strapped finaces all the way around. this is the way we have found to really appreciate what we do have and enjoy all the holiday festivities together. And watch our favorite movie National Lampooons Christmas Vacation. Whata way to spend the holidays with the kids and family.
I don’t have any unusual holiday traditions but I always thought the tradition my grandmother had of soaking ham in a bucket of a liquid (I don’t know what it was) for days pretty strange. She died when I was a child so to this day I still don’t know why she did it.
We keep it pretty traditional. But I love hearing about how other countries and cultures celebrate. I never thought of what it must be like to celebrate Christmas in the middle of summer.
I wish I could spend a Christmas in Australia. No freezing cold weather and snow to deal with.Thanks for sharing the recipe.
My pleasure. It’s funny you say you’d like to come here for Christmas, because I’d love to spend just 1 in the northern hemisphere. I really would love a white Christmas.
Oh yum, I’m going to have to find me some of that brandy butter!
Holiday traditions, well I’m in Florida so it’s usually pretty warm here for Christmas too. On Christmas eve we do dinner with friends, crab lags and a seafood broil! And then on Christmas we head to the beach and make our own snow men, aka – sandmen, as well as eat ice cream and hot dogs. lol It’s fun and the kids love it!
We really do not have any unusual traditions. Though hubby and I do not buy each other christmas gifts. We focus more on the kids. Then income tax we buy each other gifts.
Growing up, my family would go look at the Christmas displays in the department store windows. We didn’t go into the stores themselves, just stare at the displays. I miss that.
I don’t really have any unusual Christmas traditions. I like to watch It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve.
W don’t have any unusual traditions. I like your idea of Santa in a thong.
we don’t have a lot of traditions for Christmas but the two that come to mind is watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation every yr. The other is playing a card game called Uno. Every year i end up buying a new deck of cards because some of them get lost at some point. This is the first yr i won’t because like all games Uno has evolved some and i bought Uno attack last yr. The cards get kicks out of a machine at you when it’s your turn to draw and you don’t know how many your going to get it. Plus we make up extra rules as we play. It’s more fun that way lol
Lisa B
We LOVE Uno Attack in our house. We have the most fun playing it with the kids.
The oddest Christmas tradition I have heard of is to put your shoes out on your porch and Santa will fill them with goodies like candy and coins. My daughters teacher told her this one year…it was the only year we did it. Stockings are enough.
Unusual holiday tradition? going to my grandmas on xmas eve just to look at her christmas tree