Christmas Down Under

I went searching for some Christmas Spirit this year, but not surprisingly, it was home that brought it to me.

I grew up in Adelaide in South Australia. Christmas in Australia is a different. To begin with, we don’t celebrate either Thanksgiving or Halloween and that means the lead up to Christmas starts somewhere around Easter. We bundle all our children’s hopes for unnecessary candy (lollies in the local vernacular) and all our adult gorging fantasies into the same day as our gifts. And our department stores put up trees in appreciation!

Now Australia has Christmas at the height of summer, but no one ever told my mother. Like many families we had roast turkey and all the trimmings every year. This is despite the fact that Christmas lunch was served in temperatures approaching 40 degrees (that’s outside the oven) and that we had no air conditioning. Yep. We perspired. So be warned and pick a well air-conditioned hotel if you are Down Under for the big day....or just go to the beach.

The heat explains an Australian phenomenon. It’s the wine known locally as ‘black bubbles’ or Sparkling Shiraz. Australian winemakers make red wines in the sparkling. Red sparkling wine may seem anathema to the rest of the world, but when you are faced with roast turkey on the hottest day of the year, you will embrace cold bubbly reds too. To be honest, some Sparkling Shiraz wines (they come in Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot forms too) can be excellent and surprisingly elegant. I like them and recommend that when down there you try them for a summer’s lunch.

Come to think of it, if I have one criticism of my childhood Christmases, then this was it: there was simply not enough alcohol. Please make sure that you adequately stock your cellar for the big day. I believe in two strategies for surviving Christmas; drink something you like and don’t say anything unless you think everyone else will find it funny.

Another celebration we share with Canada is Boxing Day. This is a vital piece of the puzzle that the USA misses out on. It has all the family togetherness of Christmas, all the food (leftovers) and all the enjoying of presents, without any of the stress. You spend no time worrying about whether her gift is just right or whether you spent more on him last year. You just relax with the people you love.

And you can enjoy all that leftover wine I made you buy.