Festive Guest Post: Christmas in Australia by Rebecca Raisin ++ Giveaway

Thanks Abbey and Katie for inviting me here today!

Christmas in Australia is very different to Christmas in the UK! Firstly it’s summer here, so it’s usually around 35c, which is HOT! It’s also our summer school holidays so kids here have seven weeks off over that time. 

The kids break up about a week or so before Christmas and then the fun begins! We immediately go and get a photo with Santa, and they write their wish-lists for him. 

That’s a picture of my twin boys last year! As you can see we’re very Aussie here! A shirt and tie with thongs! (I think you call them flip flops?) 

Once we’ve seen Santa we try our hardest to avoid the shops which are suddenly packed with people trying to get all their last minute shopping done. Unfortunately, I’m never organised so I am usually one of those people frantically dashing around trying to remember what I’m looking for.

In our family we actually celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. We are a family of ‘foodies’ so there’s lots of discussion before that day to work out who is cooking what. And everyone contributes so it’s not all down to one person to cook. Everyone tries to outdo each other food-wise! 

We have the usual Christmas meal of turkey, and roasted vegetables, but we start with seafood. We often have something fancy, ceviche, or prawns with some kind of chimmichurri, it changes every year. 

The side vegetables are always something a little different too. Last year I did green beans with flaked almonds, and pomegranate seeds, because I thought the ruby red seeds looked like little gems! So we go all out so the food looks stunning as well as tastes good! 

For dessert we have an Eton mess! Being summer we have all that gorgeous fresh fruit in season, so we rip up meringue and layer it with blueberries, passionfruit, raspberries, and kiwi fruit, and smother it with double cream! There’s also pudding and custard but I really hate that! 

We gather early afternoon, usually at my brother-in-laws house, because he has a pool! The kids are crazy with excitement, and we let them run riot as we hover around the kitchen, drinking wine and cooking together. 

Instead of buying presents for each adult we only buy for one person. But we buy for all of the kids! The adult list looks like this. (Complete with odd nicknames we use!) We pull names out of a hat and you buy a gift for that person. I love thinking about buying something special for that one person!

The kids however, get totally spoiled by everyone, and open their gifts before we exchange ours. 

My sister-in-law loves decorating the tables each year, and last year’s theme was black and gold. It was so pretty and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with this year! 

Once the huge Christmas Eve feast is over we usually have a very chilled Christmas day. The boys open their gifts from Santa, and we usually half-nap while they play. And by lunchtime we head off to the beach and spend the day in the sunshine! I’m usually reading whatever new book I have and the boys paddle in the water, or kick the beach ball around. 

Again, we catch up with family over the coming days, and have as much fun as we can cram into the time off. 

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope you have fun! 

Rebecca's book Christmas Wedding at the gingerbread cafe is out now!!

Amazon US http://amzn.to/1qIb9VQ

Amazon UK http://amzn.to/1m7wGWP

Amazon Aust http://bit.ly/1uCJVjx

Itunes http://bit.ly/1manX5S

Google play http://bit.ly/ZnNjTF

Pinterest http://bit.ly/1uF18I4

Goodreads http://bit.ly/1t4h1bA


!! Festive Giveaway Time !!
The Lovely Rebecca is offering not one but three lucky people to win an e-copy of her first book in the gingerbread cafe series 
Christmas at the gingerbread cafe
Enter Here:

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