The festive fun-filled month is underway….hard to believe. The tree is up, the Christmas music is playing, the presents are wrapped yet things feel a bit strange. December in South Africa is quite different than America's winter wonderland this time of year. For one, it is summertime and it is HOT. With temperatures in the 90’s it sure takes on a different feel than the Mid-West winters I grew up with.
December 1st also denotes the end of a school year giving students a 6 week long holiday. So really November is the “busiest” month in my opinion. All the culminating school activities, parties, plays, and preparations for the holiday happen for us in November. So the hectic pace you are experiencing now is actually coming to an end for me (thank the Lord).
The weirdest thing of all is the fact that people don’t celebrate like ‘we’ do instead most go on vacation. It is summertime and schools are out so off to the coast people go. They put a small Christmas tree in the boot (trunk) of the car and they celebrate at a condo on the beach. By December 15, Johannesburg will look like a ghost town. Some businesses actually shut down for the month…..strange hey?!
Our Christmas holiday will be a hot, quiet one filled with lots of swimming to stay cool (homes do not have AC)……even Tori’s baby doll went for a dip to cool off.
That is my ‘strange’ holiday synopsis. What was your strangest Christmas holiday and/or memory?
7 comments:
The year we were in Tulsa. David was in the hospital for 10 days after a trip to Sierra Leone. So scary—they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him! Ashley was only 3 months old!
Oh Beth...I remember that. That was very scary!
I love that picture! What a very different experience you get to have. I'll try to think of a weird holiday story... knowing me it'll be a long tale and I'll have to post it on my blog... hopefully it won't be a tale involving rum cake.
My weirdest was in Australia- summer, shorts, swimming, barbecues on the beach... just like what you are experiencing! Even the accent is somewhat similar!
I've never had a strange Christmas, but last year was my first Christmas without Lindsey. That was hard to have our first time without all three of our girls. It helped to know she was with her husband in TX and very happy. We talked on the speaker phone and sent pictures through the internet (we finally have a webcam). Somehow it was not the same.
My family lived in east Tennessee when I was in elementary school. Christmas was different with my mother's family, the celebrated everything on Christmas Eve. Santa Claus would show up and hand out gifts. One year there was no snow on the ground. Santa arrived in a Jeep. He knocked on the side door of my aunt's house, entered the room screaming HO! HO! In his right hand he clutched a jug. He kept taking swigs from the bottle. My siblings, cousins and I were really scared because Santa would chase us around the kitchen still screaming HO! HO! He smelled so bad. The adults chased Santa out the door. We later found out he had found some moonshine and was totally lit up. I remember asking my cousin, "Why is Santa drunk? He's not suppose to smell so bad."
I can't remember one that was really strange...
but man! Tori is getting so big!! Her birthday is this month, isn't it?? Those cheeks!
Love Mitch's story! Of course he would have one with an intoxicated Santa Claus...
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