My Favourite Christmas Memories

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I love Christmas.

I love everything about Christmas. 

For some unexplained reason, it never gets old or boring. And I love hearing about everyone else’s Christmases, because they’re all so delightfully unique. Some people have it surrounded by snow, snuggled under blankets, gripping a hot drink. Others (like myself), experience it in air conditioning, or at the beach, with a barbecue sizzling nearby, and a game of cricket playing on TV. (Okay, I think that latter part is strictly Australian. :P)

Many people may think that since I am Australian, I must spend every Christmas at the beach surfing, right? Well, uh, wrong. I’ve never surfed in my life (a fact I am rather sad about), and I can only remember one Christmas spent at the beach. (Shocking!) For the most part, we always preferred being in the comfort of our own homes, enjoying it in our own little way.

So anyhow, being in the festive spirit, I thought I would give you all a taste of what Christmas has looked like for me, over the years.

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For the first fifteen or so years of my life, we would always keep a tradition in our extended family celebrations: a performance of the Christmas play.
It was originally adapted by the two aunties (one being my Mum), and was faithfully performed every year by all the grandchildren. The older kids got the speaking parts (such as the angel, or the narrator), the lucky kids got the main parts (such as Mary and Joseph), and the little kids got the smaller parts (such as the shepherd). If you were REALLY little, you were liable to be dressed up as a sheep, but we won't go there.

Over the years, we found ways to keep it interesting – adding in new songs, solos, and funny lines to entertain. Naturally, our parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles all thought us extremely funny, and so did we. ;) Once the grandkids started getting married, however, and New People were being added to the family, the idea of exposing our play to outside families was a little intimidating. Not to mention, many of the grandkids thought themselves rather old to be playing an acting part. So, sadly, that tradition has come to an end, but it did create a lot of fun memories while it lasted.

Once or twice we even took our set of carols from the play and sung them as a spur-of-the-moment choir while we walked up and down our grandparents' street, where award-winning fairy lights attracted many strangers. Having a musical family is such a blessing, and it really is quite thrilling when you can go into three part harmony without a single rehearsal!

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I distinctly remember one Christmas, we were celebrating with our extended family at our grandparents’ house and it was a particularly hot day. Over twenty people were squished into one air-conditioned room, with wrapping paper in crumpled up balls mingled throughout. The house was buzzing with people. We’d just had lunch (cold meat with salad, fresh fruit platters, pavlova, trifle and plum pudding), and were finishing opening presents. Everyone was getting a bit stiff and sticky. Outside, the temperature had just passed its peak. The blue sky was clear, and the green grass was beckoning.

To this day, I’m still not sure from where they appeared, but out of somewhere, a giant bottle of water balloons was brought forth. Jubilant shouts sounded, and all the grand kids (several of which were passed the age of twenty, might I add ;)) trooped outside with glee on their faces. We filled every single balloon and loaded them into buckets. I don’t even remember if we split into teams, or if pure chaos ensued immediately. All I remember is shrieking and throwing water balloons at anybody within my radius. Everyone was laughing and squealing and running around the tiny backyard, climbing over the garden stones and hiding behind rubbish bins and sheds. The water balloons ran out way too quickly, and no one wanted to stop the fun, so people started getting creative. One of my cousins picked up a watering can and, being exceptionally tall, would find a good hiding place and water anyone who went past.  (I suspect I was an easy target.) One of our cousins (the in-law, of course XD) even went so far as to bring out the garden hose and use it!

I remember the pure joy bubbling inside of me that day. I was full of that light-hearted joy that rarely appears outside of Christmas day. To close the memory, we took a picture – one of my favourites ever –of all the grandchildren huddled together, beaming, with our festive clothes thoroughly soaked through. I’ll never forget that day.

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I’ll end the memories here, but I would love to hear from you – what are some of YOUR favourite Christmas memories? 

Is there anything that reminds you of a particular Christmastime? (For example, whenever I hear the Michael Buble Christmas album, I ALWAYS think of that one time we were on a family holiday at a resort, playing billiards while blaring our Christmas music in the games room... xD) 

... Pssst! Five more days till Christmas!!!

P.S. Rest assured, the follow-up 'about me' post is still coming, but Christmas has priority over that. ;)

P.P.S. Also, as a random note, I went to see "The Rise of Skywalker" last night and I have MANY FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS. Have any of you seen it? If so, tell me your thoughts!!