I have two Christmases.
My family (mum's side being from
Finland) celebrates Christmas in the evening of the 24th. My family Christmas
is a fusion of snow inspired Finnish traditions set against a backdrop of an
Australian summer.
We pretend it's -15 outside and have a
sauna, light candles, and eat hot casseroles and gingerbread. Then when we're
done with that, we sit outside swatting away mossies while drinking champagne
and listening to a chorus of cicadas and televised carols.
My grandmother cooks everything. She
always has and any attempt to contribute is met with a disapproving stare. One
year my sister and I volunteered to do all the dishes. We broke three glasses
and have been banned from the kitchen ever since.
Our family Christmas has largely
remained the same for as long as I can remember, but as we have grown the
emphasis has become less on santa and presents, and more on spending time with
eachother and laughing over baileys and milk as the summer sun sinks and is
casually replaced by the familiar twinkle of Christmas lights in the street
below.
The next day we wake up and get ready
for an Australian Christmas with Mr Marie's side of the family.
This is always a big day that involves
breakfast, lunch, prawns, an afternoon nap and dinner.
We host breakfast at our place and it's
always a challenge to make something yummy for six people that doesn't require
much prep (given we're out until midnight the night before).
This year I am going half gluten free,
half naughty Christmas goodies for the guests.
This year's menu consists of;
Finnish Christmas cookies (cooked and
donated by my grandma)
Sweet Christmas bread with cheese and
Christmas ham
Orange juice and strong coffee
Hope you're feeling relaxed and
organised in the lead up to Christmas. Always remember that if you forget to
buy someone a present, you can just re-gift a box of favourites.
Very Marie
x
P.S. It has been a really busy few
months/weeks and I have not been feeling festive or at all organised for Christmas.
I'm also on-call for work until Boxing Day which is never fun.
But today I found out a good friend and
of mine has been diagnosed with breast cancer. In the week before Christmas. And
it made all my silly worrying about food menus and presents and work seem
really unimportant. My friend is going to be fine, I know that, but it did prompt me to think about what a special time Christmas should be. A time to enjoy the company of family, friends and the people you love, a time
to be grateful for what we have, not because it's perfect, but because it's
here and it's ours.
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