We do not celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia.  The nearest I reckon we'd come to it would be on Australia Day, 26th of January, which is a public holiday to celebrate the official Birth of our Nation (at least by the British, Captain Cook and all that).

 

Mostly, because we are at the height of Summer then, there are a lot of barbecues (cookouts) and the steak and chops and sausages get medium burnt to incinerated.  Or as Brian puts it, people are treated like gods - given burnt offerings.  Actually, it's seldom that bad, and yes, most of the chefs are male here, too.

 

Many of our parks feature free gas barbecues, so that way it encourages people to use the parks and also discourages the use of wood-fired barbecues and all of the bushfire danger that entails.

 

I make a traditional (I started the tradition) curried potato salad that is dead easy:  section potatoes into chunks, boil until cooked all the way through but not mushy, drain, bung in some curry powder, Chinese five spice, a few chopped up spring onions (shallots would do), and enough mayonnaise to coat the potatoes well.  Stir around so that everything is well-combined.

 

Try a salad of watermelon and onion slices.  Very nice and refreshing.  Same with boiled sliced egg and onion and raw mushroom.  No dressing or at most, a light French.

 

Now, Christmas is another story - used to be that we had a huge celebration ( I think I've written of these before).  Lotsa Brian's family and extended family.  But most of the kids have grown up and moved away...

 

In our own little nuclear family, it starts on December 1st when I haul out our Advent tree.  I've written about that before, too, but it's still lovely.  It was made by Avon some years ago, and it's a tree about one foot high, on a pedestal of drawers, each with a small favour that has a loop.  There is an aeroplane, a candy cane, a teddy bear - you get the picture.  Each drawer is numbered between 1 and 24, and the angel is put atop the tree on December the 25th.  It also has a ribbon of gold stars and another ribbon of lights that plug in to the base.  I'll try and take a picture this year.

 

Sometime during the month (although ideally I'd like to do it on the first of December), the boys and I go out and hunt up a feral Christmas-type tree.  There are plenty growing wild as weeds.  I select, and the boys cut.  Last year, however, we bought one from the Koroit Scouts.

 

Alice and I then spend a few hours one Saturday decorating. We listen to Christmas music as we carefully take out the treasures I love collecting. We are quite relieved when it's finished, although we love doing it!

 

We each savour an Edge Special Hot Chocolate (I pay for it the following morning with a phlegmy throat), and after our work is complete, Brian, who has no patience with the actual decorating, comes to admire our artistry.

 

We kill and pluck two young geese, and I stuff them with a my traditional lemon stuffing and make gooseberry sauce from an old recipe I found.

 

These two goslings go to sister-in-law Diane's for Christmas lunch, and what there is of the family gathers around catching up with life stories and my-how-you've-grown, then there is the lunch, and then there is the hand-out of presents from under Diane and Jim's tree.  The children usually read off the cards and deliver the goodies.

 

Every year I try and make a little special something for everyone.  My biggest hit was when we had just about every child of Betty's (my wonderful mother-in-law) and their children there and I decorated individual Christmas baubles with names and glitter and fake, stick-on jewels.

 

Somehow I rarely have to help with the dishes, but I do a bit here and there, so that's part of the tradition too, I suppose.