Wednesday, December 23, 2009

1st Christmas in Australia

This is my first Christmas in Australia.

I notice ...
  • Shopping centres, outlets are crowded with people milling around and shopping for Christmas presents
  • Supermarkets and markets are crowded with wives, mothers stocking turkey meat, seafood, cherries and chocolates - ingredients for Christmas eve dinners and Christmas day lunches
  • The main suburban streets are packed with cars making a dash to the shops, getting out of town or coming back into town to spend time with family
  • The city streets are strangely quiet and empty with most of the office workers on leave
  • Friends and families are having barbeques, casual gatherings, chit-chats in their backyards
  • Others are hitting the bars, living it up and having a few drinks
I have within the last couple of days ...
  • Attended two and hosted one house-warming parties
  • Jumped on a boat trip to Rottnest island with the corporate crew, partied a little and got sub-burnt (despite all the sunscreen I slathered on)
  • Involved myself in the mad shopping rush to grab a couple of presents, got carried away and bought myself little presents too
  • Spent the quiet-est dong jie (winter solstice festival) ever with my sister, her boyfriend and the steamboat
  • Caught up with a friend / ex-colleague I had not seen in months since he decided to leave quiet Perth
  • Invited my cousin and husband for dinner and cooked up a Korean feast
  • Written Christmas emails to people I like but haven't kept in touch with for a while

I feel ...

  • The Christmas spirit and holiday mood is brimming in everyone's backyards
  • Happy, excited - like when I was a child expecting the arrival of a celebration
  • Loved and blessed and that my fear of a lonely Christmas was unfounded
  • That 2009 has been a good year and I hope for more to come

I wish ...

Lots of joy, love, luck and good health for the good people in my life in the year to come


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