Christmas in Kiwiland

This year I had several firsts for Christmas:

1. My first Christmas away from family and friends back in Michigan
2. My first Christmas away from Jen (since we have been together, obviously), also in Michigan
3. My first Christmas in the summer
4. My first Christmas BBQ

One and two are pretty boring, really, so I won't dwell on them too much. Three and four, however, are a little bit interesting.

Firstly, I found it very hard to get into the whole "Christmas Spirit" while wearing shorts and lamenting the fact that I can't open more windows, lest the cat escape. They have the same Christmas music playing in stores and all of the decorations are the same, but it is warm and sunny. Maybe it'll be better next year after another 12 months of cultural acclimatization, we shall have to wait and see.

The Christmas BBQ, however makes perfect sense to me and I fully support it wherever the weather permits. I was invited out to the home of some friends of mine for their family BBQ. We got there about 11 am and were greeted with smiles and a champagne flute. Ahh, that kind of BBQ. Excellent. The menu was fairly uniquely New Zealand: we had grilled breakfast sausages, bacon, tomatoes and potatoes. Yes, they had bacon on the grill. Note, that this is kiwi style bacon which more closely resembles Canadian bacon than American bacon. Still bacon, though, and quite delicious. There were also poached eggs to put on top of the grilled food (the eggs were not done on the grill), which was an interesting addition.

Perhaps an hour after we finished with brunch (possibly elevensies), they fired up the grill for lunch. Since I was still stuffed to the gills, I passed on this round, but it consisted of a more typical kiwi BBQ: larger sausages (not quite bratwurst size) grilled, then eaten wrapped in a buttered piece of white bread. I will leave contemplation of that culinary disaster as an exercise for the reader, without further comment.

During the course of the day, the topic of differences between American and New Zealand cultures came up, as it usually does in these situations. Specifically, with regard to the BBQ. It looks like we'll be having some people over in late January or early February and that I will be giving the family BBQ recipe another go.

So, to sum up:

• Christmas in summer: kinda weird, but I think I could get used to it
• Christmas BBQ: fantastic, especially if it is followed by a late afternoon Christmas Nap and board games in the evening.

I hope you all have enjoyed your winter holiday celebrations, whatever holiday you are celebrating.