Australian Christmas is NEXT LEVEL!
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- Опубліковано 17 гру 2023
- Thanks for watching me, a humble American, react to What is CHRISTMAS like in AUSTRALIA?
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Most Aus schools have four breaks a year. The longest being summer of 6 weeks and the spring, autumn and winter breaks being 2 weeks long.
We only attend school for 40 weeks of the year with three 2 week breaks every 10 weeks and then the final term ends at the summer break of 6 weeks.
We had 6 weeks for summer, 4 weeks for the mid year break and a 1 week break in the middle of each semester.
South Australia has added a third week to the winter break. I don't understand why cos it rains here in July. Our summer break is over at end of January.
Ryan, check out the Aussie Christmas Carol "Six White Boomers". Also the absolutely brilliant Christmas ad for Telstra . This Christmas, each public telephone box has a line to Santa and the ad has a child helping one of Santa's reindeer get back to Santa by ringing him from the telephone box. It's definitely worth a look.
Schools have 4 terms with breaks in between. About 12 weeks off in total per year.
As an Aussie, I personally love the family cricket game after lunch. Always so much fun ❤❤❤❤
The cricket and then the tennis in January as well, can't wait!!!
For several decades it has been a tradition in our family to play a friendly game of cricket either in the backyard or at the local park, after we've had Christmas lunch.
A great way to work off that huge meal we eat too, and make room for some more at dinner time LOL.
I think the penchant for Australians decorating with snow themes is slowly changing. Recently I saw tree decorations in a shop that are uniquely Australian. Australian birds and animals, tiny surfboards and little characters like cricket and tennis players and even a surf life saver.
Also in Australia at Christmas time we get nature's yummiest fruit in season. Mangoes, watermelon, cherries all the best stone fruit.
I think the classic christmas tree isn't going away anytime soon, but growing up in the 90s we use to decorate with that fake snow in a can crap that I haven't seen in like 15 years+.
That being said, the streetlight displays I see in Perth still have snow men and it doesn't even snow in Perth in winter... best we get is snow on the Stirling Ranges.
Ohhhh I absolutely LOVE having all those delicious summer fruits around Christmas time.
Äs a kids, all you care about are the presents.
As an adult, (speaking for myself, personally) all I care about is the food, mostly.
Don't get me wrong, I love the gifts, too. Though now I prefer to give, more than receive.
But yeah, can't beat all those yummy, delicious summer fruits at Christmas time. It's one of the highlights to my Christmas time now. 😁
We never did the snow thing and didn't know anyone else who did either.
No it’s not. Most people here still use and prefer the snow theme. It’s just a new thing some stores are trying to push but you see in stores that no one is buying the australiana theme and it sits on the shelf.
@@Beeannks
Most people?
Tell us where all these most people are?
And where do they purchase all of their snow themed products?
Some people are buying the Aussie themed products, though. And perhaps over time, the attraction to it will grow.
I've been taking with my elderly mother and my kids, and now my grandkids, to look at many different Christmas lawn displays every year for over 3 decades now.
And I can honestly say that snow themed stuff (aside from the odd "snowman") is truly becoming less and less common.
There's a great Australian christmas song called '6 white boomers' where Santa uses kangaroos instead of reindeer to find a joey kangaroo's mother, lots of fun! Bucko and Champs Christmas songs are my family's favourites haha.
Do the boomers go and give presents to all their tenants riding on the back of a kangaroo.
Boomers are biiiig male kangaroos. They draw Santa’s sleigh when he’s in Oz. Candace is too young to remember Rolf Harris singing 6 White Boomers.
I had a book like that Santa drove in Ute pulled by flying kangaroos
Ryan get the antibiotics as it could turn into pleurisy or pneumonia
17:19 17:19
Because Australia doesn't have Thanksgiving, Christmas tends to be 'the' large family get together event. Often with larger extended families there's a large meal with each set of grandparents. The celebration with the extended family both don't have to be on the day though one often is.
Yep, as kids grow up and get into their own relationships, it's not always easy for everyone to all get together on the one day.
Sometimes the day can be split between households, going to the g.f's/wife's parents house for lunch, then to the b.f's/husband's parents for dinner, or vice versa.
Or even if parents are split up and don't live together anymore, then the kids need to go to two households to spend time with both parents for Christmas.
But then in more recent years, some people just don't wanna be travelling around from house to house on Christmas Day. Especially if they have to travel a fairly long distance to get to the other relatives house.
So I've started noticing in more recent years, that more people are deciding to have one "Christmas day" with one household on Christmas eve, then another entire day with the other household on Christmas day. Or one day with one household on Christmas day, and the other "Christmas day" with another household on Boxing day (the day after Christmas, for those who don't know about Boxing day).
it's also a great way for those of us who tend to buy a lot of food just for one day, and then we can enjoy the leftovers the next day with even more family members and catch up.
Christmas on Boxing Day with one side was the way my family grew up. Or later once we moved to the outback. We drove down after the worst of the traffic had finished. When I married, we’d have either my family or quiet just-us on Christmas Day & go to hubby’s family on Boxing Day one year, then other way round the next year.
Santa doesn't have a sleigh in Australia, he drives a rusty holden ute.
Christmas is a completely different vibe in Australia. A real summer festival feel with lots of eating and drinking, family time, short or long breaks from work (depending on whether you want to use your annual leave entitlements) and we have quite a lot of public holidays throughout the summer too. Imagine the 4th of July but your tree is up. All the kids have finished school for the year, the beach is calling, cicadas are out, it's light till late etc. We are CELEBRATING for like 3 months.
The most bizarre thing is shopping with Chrismas songs about snow and cold blaring from shops, while it is stinking hot outside.
There is a series of Australian Christmas carols, that have local themes. They refer to the hot winds, the bush and the local animals. They were written by Wheeler and James, and are beautiful. The most famous is called “Christmas Day”, and another one is “The Carol of the Birds”, which refers to boobooks and brolgas dancing.
Depends on where you’re. It’s not super hot everywhere in Australia at Christmas time. I had to wear a jumper at the shops today and right now it’s cold. So with heavy rain today and the cold it was nice at the shops with the Christmas music. Maybe up north it’s hot as it is there.
😂
Hey Ryan, we don't have a huge summer break like Americans do, but we do have more "school holidays" during the year. We have four terms, they're usually around 10 weeks each, and then a 2 week break between each term -- with a six week break in summer (mid-Dec to the first week of Feb).
I love the holidays, I am on my year 10 holidays Rn.
@@Vegemite_Warriorme too, heading towards year 11 next year 😢
@@Pelfri0 don't sweat it m8.
What subjects are you doing next year?
@iminyourbathroom509 It's scary isn't it, but if my sister could do it this year so can I.
@@Vegemite_Warrior if your sister can then I can, then I'll be a role model for my younger siblings, gl!
The Australian school year is 40 weeks, broken into 4 equal "terms". That leaves 12 weeks for holidays, which are usually split into 6 weeks for Summer/Christmas (starting mid-December and finishing at the end of January), 2 weeks for Autumn/Easter (usually the weeks on either side of Easter Sunday), 2 week for Winter (in the middle of the year) and 2 weeks for Spring (end of September/start of October).
For Australian Christmas movies, I'd look at 'The Magic Pudding' as one for the kids. Big list of Australian Christmas songs: White Wine in the Sun, Aussie Jingle Bells, How to make Gravy, 6 White Boomers
White Wine in the Sun makes mea tear up, as does How to Make Gravy.
Both such beautiful songs.@@goodyxeroxx
The Colin Buchanan version of Jingle Bells which references the (now extinct) Holden Ute.
Every year on Christmas Eve the Fire Brigades around here load up their trucks and drive through every street with a Santa sitting up top. The Fireman stand up there and throw bags of lollies to all the kids, they have Christmas carols playing as they do it.
Pretty much every kid will run out and line the street as they hear the truck coming. We used to run to different streets to get as many bags as we could. :D
And Volunteers take donations for the Country Fire Authority 👍
wtf? this never happened to me nor have I ever heard of it! Im from QLD.
As they drove past, we'd always give the firemen a sixpack to share when their day was over. Living in a cul-de-sac we often got a second hit of lollies as they came back down the street lol
The firemen driving on Christmas Eve with lollies for the children is an iconic Christmas event.
In my parents' street on Christmas day this year, Santa turned up on a Harley and gave the children a little gift. I'm not sure which neighbour organised it, but it was lovely to see how happy the children were
Not something I ever saw (also from Qld) but a great tradition.
You’re a trooper Ryan. You looked like you were struggling with the bronchitis but you’re still pumping out the content for us. Good onya👍
The old RYAN needs to watch out for FLU this year as it will be very heavy in USA, as it is in Australia now..
We have battery powered candles that we use these days because of the bushfire danger, at the Carols by candlelight. A good one to look up is Carols in the Domain. This is in the Domain area of Sydney and is usually a televised event as they feature some great Aussie talent.
Carols by Candlelight at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl is just as good, especially since all the proceeds and donations go to Vision Australia that helps children who are blind and visually impaired.
That being said, I also miss the deafness telethon that used to be held every year on Channel 10 (previously known as the 0 network).
The best thing about both Carols events, is that we get to sit down with our loved ones and enjoy 2 special nights in front of the telly, singing Christmas carols together.
Especially as the kids start to grow up and we barely get to sit around and enjoy many family moments watching something together, as much as we did when they were little.
I live in Australia. I am a 1st generation Aussie but my husband and my family come from europe (Poland and Croatia). Traditionally we celebrate christmas eve with lots of seafood for dinner. We exchange gifts from one another and then go to church. On Christmas morning we open our gifts from santa and then have a nice lunch outside. Boxing day is essentially a recovery day.
This lovely young lady has given an Australian Xmas a heavily South Australian influence and god bless her for that, the rest of Australia is getting as far away from snow and hot baked lunch/dinner and more prawns on the barbie and hit the beach if near by, I haven’t seen a can of ‘santa snow’ for 20 years. Merry Xmas to all and sundry.
Agree. Im in SA and yes snow is still a feature at xmas here though I myself this year decided not to have any decorations which feature it as I want to get away from that and go more Australian xmas.
Huh! I'm a south Aussie and we don't do the snow stuff and we have a wooden Santa's sleigh pulled by six white boomers - currently sitting on top of the fridge courtesy of the local men's shed. We usually steer towards summery Christmas themed stuff like Santa chilling at the beach or riding a surfboard and hybrid summer and Christmas decorations. Never had the fake snow either.
It really depends on you/your family. Some people like the traditional snow theme, some go for the more Aussie flavoured decor.
And the video did mention seafood and BBQ rather than hot roast? Although I do love my turkey and will always suffer the heat for it 😂
So not true. I’m in NSW and lived in WA and we very much do the hot turkey roast dinner. We have loads of fake snow cans at the shops that do sell out quickly so you have to buy them early . I live 20 minutes from many beaches and it’s mainly used by tourists on Christmas Day.
@@Beeannks Good for you, merry xmas
Watch Aussie jingle bells, it's bloody amazing
Yes it is soo good
Bloody love that song.
I heard it in Woolies the other day and it made me feel so proud to be a crazy Aussie LOL
An Australian tv series that shows really mainstream (working class) culture, I think, is “A Moody Christmas”. It is a 6 part series covering 6 years of a family whose surname is Moody. Almost entirely filmed in one backyard. Very Australian sense of humour.
Great show. One of the best comedy series this country has made.
One year with my grandparents we went outside and chopped a branch off a GUM TREE for the Christmas Tree. We decorated it like any other tree. :D
We do that every year
We used a Murray Pine, which is a native species.
We had a blue gum Xmas tree one year, it was from our property too so free 😊
About 65 years ago when we were living with our grandparent my sister & I went down the bush & brought home a small dead tree with several branches & painted it with white wash & stuck it in a large can of dirt wrapped in Xmas paper then decorated it with a bit of tinsel cotton wool balls & handmade coloured cardboard stars & we had a great happy Xmas
That’s much better than killing a whole tree in my opinion.
I love our Aussie summer Christmas', beach, bird and beer :) It's great!!
My kids used to put rolled oats out for the raindeer. When they woke, the birds already had attem, which looked like the reindeer ate them.
I hope you feel better soon Ryan. Merry Christmas to you and your family.🎄🎄🎄
The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is a big part of the Christmas - New Year sporting calendar in Australia. The race began in 1945, and continues today. It is 628 nautical miles/1163km of ocean racing starting on Sydney Harbour at 1pm on Boxing Day, 26th December, finishing at Constitution Dock in Hobart, anywhere from less than 48hrs up to 4 days later. The slowest time for the race was in 1945, with a time of 11 days, 14 hours, 22 minutes. The fastest time was 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes, 24 seconds. There have been controversies surrounding race tactics; deaths at sea because of horrendous weather conditions, etc, over the years. It is one of the most prestigious ocean races in the world with boats and crews from around the world taking part. It might be worth letting your fingers do the walking to find out more about this iconic Australian sporting event.
🙃🐨🇦🇺
And of course, the Boxing Day test match at the MCG. This year, it's Pakistan...but Boxing Day tests against England or India...or NZ or South Africa...are huge.
The weather conditions at around Bass Strait sort the ametures from the professionals
@@c8Lorraine1it do indeed... once they lose the shelter and protection of the mainland, all hell can, and often does, break loose.. they are definitely far hardier souls than I... they can have that all on their Pat Malone...😏
Shame that Channel 7, which was the advertised broadcaster for the Sydney to Hobart start, didn't bother to broadcast it, at least in regional areas. Instead, regional viewers got the test cricket on all three Channel 7 channels.
For the changing out the reindeer for kangaroos, there's a big christmas song about it in Australia. Lookup the song "Six white boomers".
For the boxing day, it's common with larger familys to have the boxing day test on the tv, while the family sits around, plays cards, and consumes left-overs. While the young-uns are out in the yard playing cricket themselves, catching up with extended family/cousins etc (This may be the only time of year you all get to catch up), the adults have a few drinks, everyone is in recovery mode, and folks will often drive home the next day.
Christmas day: family.
Boxing day: friends.
In Adelaide South Australia u know Christmas is approaching when the Christmas pageant is held with all the amazing pageant floats and performers and it’s always televised
she forgot one tradition: On Boxing Day, the hot cross buns will be on sale for Easter.
True.
Lol so true. Then easter eggs few weeks later lol
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I always remember watching” Bondi Rescue on Christmas Day” and all the tourists are from cold climates and are absolutely loving the sun and sand as it’s so different. And as an Australian I would love to try the cold climate one day!
Yes, at least once I would love to try a white Christmas 🎄
Same! I get so curious about snow during Christmas. You see it all the time on the internet, movies, shows, etc. But never get to see it in real life
I can remember a cold snap at Christmas when I was little and it snowed on the nearby higher altitudes. I'll have to ask dad what year it was.
As a small child I was always waiting for it to snow on Xmas day. It didn`t help that my parents would always say "maybe next Xmas it`ll snow". We lived on the NSW North coast.
That’s just mean😂😂😂
Your parents 😂 are funny buggers
Some parts of NSW have had snow on Christmas Day. Oberon has in the past. Tasmania occasionally will get snow on Christmas Day at cradle mountain. We’re forecast to have a cool day with heavy rain on Christmas Day where I am in NSW. I hate summer so am very happy to have a cold wet Christmas this year
They told me if I ate watermelon seeds ,that watermelons would grow out of my ears. Is it too late to sue them.
@@davexenos9196 😂😂😂
Prawns definitely go on the barbie, or just precooked with lemon and pepper. The Aussie tradition of being stopped anytime you drive on Christmas Day by a grumpy and hot cop for an RBT (random breath test for blood alcohol levels) wasn’t mentioned but it’s 100% Australian. So some poor sod has to stay sober all Christmas Day and drive the rest of us home. Some people also have long Christmas holidays. This year I’ll be off work from Friday the 22nd until Monday January 8th. Merry Christmas Ryan and family and get well soon. ❤️🩹
Used to live on a 6 acre property in the Adelaide hills. The guy next door planted pine trees along the boundary. Every Christmas we used to cut an overhanging branch from one of the trees so we could have a "tree" that reached the ceiling in the living room.
Hey Ryan, thanks for getting through the video while you're feeling so ill, you did a great job. Now go get some antibiotics and rest up so you're feeling well for all the festivities coming up. Merry Christmas to you and your family from your Aussie family of viewers downunder!
The woman making the video is from SA, and that state has a significant German influence, which might be the reason for the "real" trees. My Sydney family always had a plastic tree.
Yes, multicultural families often do a small Christmas for the sake of their children, but a Muslim acquaintance will be going to the office on Dec 27-29 so her Christian colleagues don't have to.
The Sydney Fish Markets is open for 36 hours straight, from 5am 23/12 to 5pm 24/12.
My partner and I don't have kids or nearby family, so we don't do much on Xmas day, but we have friends over on Boxing Day to drink and eat and relax.
I didnt think we even had anywhere to get real xmas trees lol NSW here
As a kid I used leave carrots out for the reindeers and beer for santa lol
I used to put out a glass of port or sherry and a slice of iced Christmas cake for Santa. My Grandad enjoyed a tipple of Port or sherry at night 😅
The best Australian christmas movie Die Hard!
Oh, Merry Aussie Christmas Ryan! 👍🧑🎄🙃 Happy Holidays! 🏖️🌴🏂 (I get bronchitis too, take garlic, ginger, vitamin c, and keep dust and mould down!) We always have a big real, beautiful smelling, Pine Tree!🌲 I love the Carols by Candlelight, everyone sings!💡 Christmas day is for presents and feasting, twice, Boxing Day for rest and cricket!🦞🏏
A great Aussie Christmas movie is the Moody Christmas. Hilarious and really showcases what Christmas is like down under.
My family has always celebrated on Christmas Eve. My eldest nephew is now taking over the annual event so four generations now. It's our Danish grandfather who instigated this after immigrating here in the 1920's.
Our kids get 6-8 weeks in Dec-Jan, depending on what grade they're in and whether it's a public or private school. They also get about 10 days at Easter, 2 weeks in Jun-Jul and 2 weeks in Sep-Oct. Plenty of time off 😊 We had real trees a few times as kids in the 70s/80s, but most years we'd just drag out the plastic tree and put up the same boring old decorations 😅
Our plastic one was up REALLY, REALLY early this year.
(Like a year early……)
I was told boxing day was when the wealthy boxed up the leftovers and gave them to the poor/servents.
That was what it was originally.
NOW, it's just enjoying the leftovers from Christmas day, kids still enjoying their presents and dad/hubby watching the Boxing day test match on the telly.
Well, that's what it has long been in my family. 😁
When I was a kid I was real confused about how boxing(the sport) ended up with their own day, after Christmas no less.
Love that innocence of childhood.@@Ni-boo
Almost every scout group near me in Melbourne sells Christmas trees! Scouts in aus is for people of all genders ☺️
All hahahaha
What???? 'All genders'??? What are you talking about??
Look out, @emilyc2748, the anti-everything goons are sniffing around like lame hyena's 😂
@@tammymcleod4504 there is no "boy's scout" or "girl's scout", it's just scouts.
@@Ni-boo thanks. I had no clue, given I dont have kids and all the nieces and nephews never went anyways.
I think the extra break for the American education system may not be ideal. The stats are showing Americans might need to spend a little bit of extra time on education. 😉
It has nothing to do with spending more time, thats a big misconception of the americans. In germany we can maybe do everything they do in their jobs in 60-80 hours per week in just 35 hours because of beeing more efficient and also more relaxed because we have the time to relax and are not totally stressed out.
And for schools its quite the same, i think americans spend way more hours in school every day and still learn way less.
@@beldin2987So it's plain to see you're not Australian, this comment went straight over your head!
@@beldin2987To be fair, the Americans do have to devote half their school time to training their kids to hide under their desks 🤣(active shooter drills)
@@aflaz171
Why does @beldin2987 have to be an Aussie to be able to respond to @trentoncrisp comment?
@beldin2987 is simply comparing the hours that U.S kids spend physically being in school classes, supposedly learning, to the time spent in classrooms for German kids. And whether time spent physically being in a classroom learning makes any sort of difference or not.
@trentoncrisp never actually said anything about Aussie kids being smarter than U.S kids, or anything like that.
So there's no reason why anyone besides an Aussie is allowed to throw their 2 cents worth in on the discussion.
@@beldin2987 See the wink emoji? That means I was joking. As for German efficiency. You use a lot of words to say very little in your comment 😉
Mate, don’t feel sorry for the break time at school here, as well the 6 week summer break, there are also 3 other 2 week breaks in April July and October.
Plus we have more public holidays than any other country 😄
That's true, we don't get a festive break in winter. There's a couple weeks school holidays for families with kids, but if not, and as well, for adults winter is for working. Especially in outdoor jobs like construction, because summer is hot and winters aren't snowbound, it's the most productive time of the year.
There's a swag of long weekends in spring, which is what everyone looks forward to.
In Victoria, most of our long weekends (the weekend + a public holiday) all tend to fall in the first half of the year.
By the second half of the year, we only get 3 public holidays. Queen's/King's birthday in June, AFL Grand Final eve in Sept, and Melbourne Cup in Nov.
Not even sure if all of Vic gets the public holiday for Melbourne Cup, either, or if it's just a Melbourne day off.
And thankfully we were given that public holiday back for Sept (which was taken away by Jeff Kennet back in the 90's), or else we'd only have the 2 public hols in the last half of the year.
So by the time Christmas rolls around, many of us are hanging out for those 2-4 weeks off from Christmas onwards.
If you're lucky enough to even get the time off over Christmas and New Years, that is. After all, many poor sods are still working hard through those times, so the rest of us can enjoy that time off.
Ah, but we all get the three holiday within the week, except poor essential & retail workers.
Celebrating with all the wintery things in an Aussie Christmas only adds to the magic :)
🎄Yes, in Germany we celebrate (mainly) on christmas eve.
To keep the impatient children busy, there are special kids shows on TV the whole day. 😆
Please get well soon, Ryan.
I don‘t like to see you suffer.❤️
She’s a bit behind the times as things have changed in regards to the way Aussies celebrate Christmas nowadays, especially with her faux winter fire and tree.
We now use more Australian style decorations that suit our climate. From using local trees to driftwood, sending cards that have Aussie themes, like Santa surfing, swimming, barbecuing etc, there’s now less snow and winter style decorations. We definitely do have Kangaroos pulling a sleigh for Santa dressed in swimwear.
And seafood is now very common for Christmas lunch instead of a traditional English hot roast.
she's from SA where I am too and we here still often feature snow theme at xmas. I think we are behind the other states when it comes to some things.
@@tanyabrown9839 yep, it’s starting to change around the country which is good as it’s always been part of our tradition to follow the British style of Christmas with American influences. It’s crazy that we still use decorations that reflect a cold winter theme with snowmen, reindeer etc etc, it really makes no sense.
But now I think many Aussies are starting to embrace and celebrate the fact we have a hot Christmas.
My families not religious so we have a driftwood Xmas tree with a beach theme of seashells, starfish, clay eucalyptus leaves, wooden hearts etc. especially fitting as a lot of Aussies spend Christmas at the beach.
Merry Christmas to everyone , please STAY SAFE ...
Merry Christmas to you too 😊
I always found Christmas movies weird, from my childhood it was mostly american movies with the sterotypical snow, etc. Off the top of my head I cannot think of a single Aussie christmas movie.
Something I don't know if the US has, but where grew up in Aus, we actually had "Christmas in July" parties. Not an actual christmas with gifts, etc. But since it was winter we had some fun pretending to have a cold christmas xD fake snow and all.
Christmas brekkie or lunch has been a staple. The evening has always just been for friends to get together in my experience and is never really a big event, just a small platter of food.
Hope you all have a good day :3
Yes, to all of this.
US/UK Christmas movies always feel a little alien and I cannot think of a single Aussie one.
Our weird ‘Christmas in July’ thing which is really just a way for us all to think about what it would be like to have a cold Christmas.
Christmas food is always weighted heavily towards the first half of the day, by the time it hits 4-5pm everyone is drunk or asleep or we’ll on their way to one of those options 😂
And I hope YOU have a good day 😊
I've never worked out why it is not Christmas in June! (June being 6 months away from December)
Actually quite a few Auzzie Xmas movies a lot are a bit corny .A sunburnt Christmas . Christmas on the Farm .& a Bush Christmas are few that readily come to mind ,A bush Christmas is a remake of a 1947 movie of the same name & was Nicole Kidmans first feature role.
@@georgescott6967 very good point, no idea… but ‘Christmas in June’ is a great song by AJR so you’re def not the only one to think that
I think it's because July usually has lower temperatures than June, and the main point is eating all those cold weather foods that are traditional in a northern hemisphere Christmas diner. @georgescott6967
Hey Ryan, the temperature check you did was at 1am sydney time, a cooler part of the day 😂. The top temperature in my part of Sydney today was 95F/35C. Hottest day so far this month was 108F/42C.
It’s been years since we’ve been able to light a candle. Most carols by candlelight’s sell small battery powered ‘candles’. Nine times out of ten santa comes in a firetruck.
Boxing Day in this house is - all day cricket (Boxing Day test) and help yourself to leftovers, coz this Nan is in recovery 😁🎅🤶🎁🎄
European cultures Christmas eve is the main celebration. My grandparent immigrated to Grand Rapids MI. They celebrated on Christmas Eve as they were from Latvia.
same in germany
24th eve - suffering through diner with parents and food I never liked and then presents
25/26 after that are just 2 attached holidays after that
or for someone (un) lucky like me to be born on 25th dec another weird holiday with all the rest of the family visiting and much more bad dinner left overs...
mfg
Olli
Christmas time in Tasmania the most southern state of Australia is simply amazing, not so hot as the mainland and sometimes does snow up at mt Wellington...
There are public schools and private schools. Summer holidays go for 6-8 weeks and there is 3 other breaks throughout the year ranging from 2 to 3 weeks.
I managed to raise my son without the need for Santa. Don’t get me wrong, we still shared presents under the tree and summertime meals, however we still included our religious beliefs and traditions. My son , now an adult, said he loved the way we did Christmas and intends to do the same with his family
My family has two Christmases. Christmas Eve is with my sister-in-law's family (they are from El Salvador), and then Christmas Day with my parents' families - usually lunch with my Dad's family and dinner with my mum's family.
WON'T SOMEONE MENTION THE SALADS!?
Boxing Day sales day is where you buy next year's presents for all occasions, also in case of a wedding, cheaper nicer xmas decorations, more luxurious underwear at cheaper prices, cheaper toys including very little ones for all your kid's rewards, or birthday party bags, bigger sized clothes for kids to grow into later, brand toy collectables, xmas food/nut baskets,
Clothes, sleepwear , beach towels, all the top choccies and biccies in xmas tins, shapes and wraps, xmss card packs.... You can just pretty well set yourself up for the next year and a bit beyond.
I used to have a great Christmas tradition with the kids where we used to go out in the bush and pick out a big gumtree branch and take it home and decorate it with all Australian themed stuff. Made the house smell great as well.
Aussie schools might be similar to New Zealand where you get six weeks off in summer from a week before Christmas until Feb. Then you have 4 terms at school. Each term is split by a two week break, totalling another six weeks. So schools get 12 weeks off per year, plus public holidays.
in Aus it also depends on if you go to a public or private school. In High school I was at a private school and got 10 weeks over the xmas holiday. Private primary schools generally get 8 weeks and public schools only get 6 weeks.
If you are really feeling overwhelmed by all this Xmas hoopla, you could always try what I did .
Being totally over it, all this you must buy stuff that people don’t want because it is a certain time of year, I was heading off to Finland prior to my trip into Russia. Sightseeing in Finland is fun, got the train up to the Arctic Circle. Hopped off at Rovanemi, Santa Claus’s hometown. Went out to check out his establishment, sat on his knee, had photo taken (which they print off as postcards). Wrote home to the family…see, he really exists! (Tongue in cheek). Then I went into town and ate his reindeer for lunch. Then I sent the postcards notifying Xmas was over . Santa wasn’t coming any more as I had eaten his reindeer. And that was the end of Xmas bs in our household. So liberating!
I wonder how many people realise Christmas originally was a celebration of the birth of Jesus. I have come across some who genuinely didn’t know
Many European cultures do the gift-giving and celebration on Christmas Eve. I believe that's common in Northern Europe.
Fun Fact: Adelaide is the ONLY city that hosts a City Christmas Pageant! No other city does this. We have loads of amazing floats (approx 60), marching bands, clowns, dancers etc and Santa on his sleigh at the end, and it goes through the streets of the city. Literally thousands of people line the streets (over 300K in 2019!!), kids drawing with chalk on the sidewalk and we hope to god that it doesn't rain or that it isn't 40C! And I only found out this year that we are the only city that does this. How cool!!
Perth
The 2 largest Carols by Candleight (Sydney and Melbourne) are telecast on Channel 7 and Channel 9 (and these days streamed) - one of them is always on Christmas Eve, and I think the other is normally the Satirday before Christmas. There might be some restriction on streaming them live internationally, but I'd imagine you can stream repeats the following day (and most of it ends up on youtube, even if they don't have the entire event).
We lived next door to some Jehovah's Witness (I think) when I was growing up. They absolutely wouldn't celevrate Christmas and the kids weren't happy. I can also relate to her point about the European Christmas - we would have the bulk of the celebration (and presents around the tree) on Christmas Eve (Santa would deliver stuff under the tree while we were eating dinner which seemed to suspiciously coincide with one of the parents remembering they had to close an open window in the lounge room). Christmas Day might have still had a lot of Christmas food (Ham, seafood, salads, cold-cuts, peaches, cherries, nuts, gingerbread etc) but it was more a day of doing nothing for us.
Re the kangroos, there is a Christmas Carol (or Song) "Six White Boomers" - that is about Santa's sleigh being towed by skippies rather than reindeer.
Boxing day used to have *massive* sales (literally like $10 fridges if you were lucky) but they got dangerously crowded and were scaled back (I think inthe 90s) because you'd literally get a mad rush into the stores to get the super cheap stuff (which was typically a very limited stock of only 1 or 2 items).
Boxing Day Test FTW....
When I was a kid we had a Lebanese family that lived a few doors up from us.
Whether they were Christian or not and whether they celebrated Christmas, I'm not entirely sure. I just hung around with one of the girls briefly when I was about 8 or 9 (she was about a yr older) when we first moved to the area, then we just went our separate ways over time.
But the kids certainly didn't wake up to a bunch of presents, that's for sure. So my friend and her younger brother used to come over to our house from Boxing day onwards and would play with some of mine and my brothers toys that we got.
I kinda felt pretty bad for them. Not sure how much it may have bothered them, though. Wasn't something kids would really talk about decades ago.
As for Boxing day sales in stores the day after Christmas, it's no different to the Black Friday sales in the U.S - which have now also crept into Australia and our retailers have decided to cash in on that U.S tradition as well.
And yes, Boxing day test at the G (MCG = Melbourne Cricket Ground) is a huge deal in my family. Has been for generations.
Kinda like NFL is in the U.S on Thanksgiving Day.
An Australian Christmas carol:
…. (Boomers = kangaroos… not our elders) 😊
Six white boomers, Snow White boomers
Racing Santa Clause across the blazing sun…
With regards to the carols by candlelight, a couple of things about the candles, 1 is that these are generally held in the middle of a sporting oval or something like that, minimising the risk of bushfire. And 2 is that for more than 10 years now battery operated "candles" have increasingly become the preferred choice for the event.
It’s 73 at night not mid day lol
Usually true but this week is low/mid 20s so it wasn't wrong
It was 20c 68f during the day where I live today and that was the warmest it got. Depends on where you’re. Australia is a big country and not hot everywhere.
Another key Boxing Day activity is to go to the movies. Usually to escape the heat, but also because its when the big summer releases come out so it's always busy.
Also, definitely recommend White Wine In the Sun by Tim Michin. Is a beautiful song that really represents our Christmases.
It’s very dependent on schools (public v private). My kids’ are currently on 8 weeks summer/Christmas holidays (they finished on 30 November). Then they get 2 weeks holiday between each of the other school terms during the year, so another 6 weeks. So their school year looks like this, starting at the end of January:
Term 1 - 10 weeks
2 weeks holiday
Term 2 - 10 weeks
2 weeks holiday
Term 3 - 10 weeks
2 weeks holiday
Term 4 - 8 weeks
8 weeks xmas/summer holidays
Plus they get some public holidays and student free days within those terms.
We have the Christmas Pudding made each year
I go to the Boxing Day sales every year at about 7 or 8am as stores open early. Great time to buy clothes, linen or anything. Often half price or a huge reduction. Then meet friends for coffee when we are shopped out, then home to watch the cricket & the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
I’m in Melbourne & our Christmas Day weather forecast is only about 22C. Melbourne is one of the southern states so can get very cold here so it’s always unpredictable what the day will be like each year. Anything between 18C & 40C! 22C isn’t too bad as long as it’s sunny & no wind. Not sure if we’ll eat lunch outside or inside. Will still cook the turkey & ham on the bbq outside.
Has anyone mentioned Christmas in July?
Some of us do all the traditional cold climate Christmas food and have a gathering to have that Christmas food in winter. So we get Christmas, twice!
73, at bloody 5am.... It is indeed summer and it's been very hot lately.
My Spanish family celebrates Christmas Eve as well. In saying that when in Australia they follow our traditions & celebrate on Christmas Day 😊
We LOVE having Christmas and a long summer break at the same time. There are 3 other 2 week holidays throughout the year.
It's not an Aussie Christmas without a game of backyard or beach cricket.
My mum is one of 9 siblings, and I am one of 29 grandchildren (not to mention 27 great-grandchildren, plus 2 great-great-grandchildren), so I can indeed confirm Christmas is rather expensive 😂
Ryan pretty much all of us in Middle& Eastern Europe celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve- so in the evening before you guys celebrate. It used to be a tradition that the Christmas tree was put up on Christmas Eve and the kids weren’t allowed to see it, it’s still common in many areas.
In Austria and some other countries we also don’t have Santa, the Christkind comes instead (basically baby Jesus).
It’s always really strange to see US movies where people celebrate Christmas in their pyjamas… it has a completely different vibe, very casual. Christmas is quite „classical“ here, you dress up and celebrate together. What you eat for dinner is also an important topic and most families have their own traditions, they’ll eat the same special meal every year. There are many different food traditions based on regions. I‘d almost say it’s more like your thanksgiving than your Christmas.
Kids usually have to wait until dinner is over to open their presents but that’s part of the excitement. You try to catch a look during the day when the living room area is a prohibited place, seeing the tree with the lights and the presents underneath when you are finally allowed in as a kid is part of why Christmas is special.
Some people use natives, growing in a pot, that can be used every year and still be a real tree. Often you split the day into 3, brekkie at home, lunch at 1 grandparent's (or other relative on that side) and then you do other side of family.
Have a very Happy Christmas. As an Ausdie, I enjoy watching you explore life in Australia
We have Scouts too (without the "Boy"), and in my city (Melbourne), they're one of the biggest suppliers of christmas trees (usually in the carpark of the local Bunnings hardware store).
Many Australian families (including mine and most i knew growing up) have prawns and other seafood and salads for Christmas lunch.
Definitely check out White Wine in the Sun (song by Tim Minchin).
I’m in Australia. We crank up the aircon so it’s super cold inside. We have a roast turkey and veggies with Yorkshire puddings, trifle and Christmas pudding. We open gifts in the morning and never do the beach thing. Our family don’t do anything to do with sports either. Not all parts of Australia is hot on Christmas Day.
basically the school year is broken into 4 terms. it consists of term 1 (Starting around 28th Jan) = 10 weeks followed by a 2 week break, term 2 = 11 weeks followed by 2 week break, term 3 =10 weeks followed by a 2 week break, and term 4 = 11 weeks followed by the Christmas break which is usually around 8 weeks (finishing around 28 Jan) ready to start the cycle again. Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, this is ideally a charitable time where the kids will donate old toys and things to the less fortunate which also helps to clear out old or unwanted toys after recieving the new ones for Christmas.
You gotta listen to the Aussie jinglebells by Colin Buchanan it so good and in stead of snow is a scorching hot summers day in a old rusty Holden Ute
Ryan, for our Christmas break, kids love it , it's long days of playing, going to the beach and no school for 6 weeks. For business. it the traditional christmas new year break. For trades people it more of a month long break ,going back to work in the middle of January. Best wishes to you and your Family.Merry Christmas.
There is an old xmas song called 'six white boomers' about santa using roos to pull his sleigh.
My aunt and uncle always have a gum tree branch as their Xmas tree
My parents were Polish. Big meal was xmas eve, open the presents when the first star could be seen. After xmas dinner we would go to midnight mass. Then xmas day was playing with the toys, swimming in the river ot our pool, and a big xmas lunch made up mostly of cold meat leftovers, prawns and, when I was 18, cold beer.
I live in Sydney. The city is under a blanket of smoke from bushfires right now. 🙁
Yeah, that's usually a sign that Christmas is near
As an Aussie, I've never understood Australians trying to replicate Christmas in Northern countries, i.e., winter decorations and lunch. What's wrong with a summery Christmas. My family's Christmas lunch is a fancy barbecue - much more sensible. Santa should be wearing red board shorts, thongs (as in flip-flops for non-Australians), and tank top!!
I am an Aussie living in Canada now Bit I grew up having Christmas dinner at the beach Going to sporting events Dinner was prepared the day before and after opening presents packing up the car and heading off to our favorite beach. Boxing day is big here in Canada, most stores are open and there are a lot of sales usually 50-75%off so very good for getting Christmas decorations
In regards to our school holidays we don’t have semesters… we have 4 school terms that are around 10 weeks long. Then our breaks are 6 weeks from December to February, then the next break at the end of term 1 is 2 weeks in April, then end of term 2 you have 2 weeks holidays in July, end of term 3 you get 2 weeks holidays in September then that brings us back full circle to December 6 week break.
Christmas eve we would go to the midnight mass with the car loaded with presents. Once mass was over we would head over to my parents best friends homes which would consist of 5 different families in 5 different locations & give them all Christmas gifts. They would have the Christmas cake & egg nog waiting for us. Most times we would get home around 8-9 to which we would then open our gifts. It was crazy but all of us loved it😂 Yes we're Aussies living in Western Australia
Australia loves ya vids bro. Especially through your eyes xx
Merry Christmas Brother
Makes us realize what a crazy country we live in. Beach Xmases, Deadly animals in the back yard, Bushfires, Floods, Droughts, and above all, the chance to tell the Prime Minister he is a dickhead to his face if u meet him in the street.
Okay... so Xmas day where I am (in Adelaide) will be 23 degrees C, no rain, light breeze and just the IDEAL day. Barbecue and roast meat and veggies for lunch, games and fun in the afternoon. We couldn't ask for a better day. It's going to be perfect.
Great video as usual. I hope you're feeling better soon
An old Rolf Harris song. "Six white boomers", which are kangaroos, bring Santa through Australia. Have a listen, it is really quite a catchy song and fun. Merry Christmas Ryan (mate). I do hope your bronchitis gets better soon, I also used to get it every winter.
Lol, 73 degrees because we’ve had a cold front come in from the South. Thank goodness because we’ve had a string of 95-110 degree days 🥵
It feels like a winter’s day today here in Sydney! Cold and wet!
We do a traditional summer Christmas theme; lots of greenery & flowers, artificial tree lit up inside the house & back verandah decorated too. We get a real tree for the back verandah as a family tradition. I love the smell wafting in through the back windows🎄 & no problem with sap, pine needles everywhere or spiders! Everything is about sunny, warm days & appreciating the outdoors, even if it’s raining (in the aircon or pool if it’s a stinker & wait until it cools down for backyard cricket)
I’d like to experience a snowy Christmas but I hate the cold 🥶🙅🏼♀️ so probably not going to happen 😂✌🏼🇦🇺
Ryan there are two lots of carols that are on TV in Sydney the first is carols in the domain. the second is carols by candlelight which is held at the Melbourne Music Bowl.
One thing she forgot to mention which is one of my favourite things to do at christmas time is to go driving at night just before christmas 25 December and check out the lights around my neighbourhood. It's a big thing and some people go all out with the lights and decorations in their front yards.