What Australian Christmas traditions are there?

Show all answers

proud walker

Bar be que on the beach

The Silver Foo Dog

First off we have bacon and eggs for breakfast then we open presents, after that I sit underneath a large lillypily that we have out the back and have a couple of beers, then we have a cold lunch because X-mas in Australia at midday you'll bound to be pushing about 35 to 40 degrees so having a hot turkey in that heat is just stupid.

After that it's a few more beers and having a chat with family and friends. Then it's a cold dinner and looking forward to the Boxing day cricket test.

Power Flower

We never have Xmas without beer, prawns, crab and a few hours at the beach.

Allora

We have a lot of similar traditions like the tree and stockings etc.. but many of our traditions are adapted for the weather. We celebrate on Christmas day usually, we have present opening in the morning and sometimes a champagne breakfast with neighbours in someone's yard. We usually eat at lunch time - we'll have seafood or baked (but cold) ham, cold bbqed chicken, salads. Sometimes we have a hot meal but it would usually be lamb instead of turkey. It's usually too hot for that.
We spend the afternoon lazing around drinking, or swimming in the pool or playing cricket. It's usually a really relaxing day in my family.

beach2cb

On Christmas Eve we leave out a beer for Santa and a carrot for his reindeer, and some empty pillow cases by the fireplace. Santa comes at night and fills the pillowcases with presents. We get up at 6am or earlier for the kids to unwrap the presents. Then around lunchtime we have a big meal with some kind of roast and some potatoes and side dishes. We might have a pavlova cake for dessert with lots of kiwi fruit. It's summertime! And of course we have a Christmas tree which we put up a few weeks before Christmas.
Thanks for asking!

shrebee

in my home we put up the tree,during the 1st week of december,we have lights outside.our dinner is usually a lamb,chicken roasts and either roast veg or salads.sometimes we have bar-b-que brekkys at other familys homes,depends on who's turn it is.We decorate our table with aussie native xmas bush and the kids usually paint up some lil gumnuts.we have koalas,roos,wombats etc for our decorations.
we also leave out milk+cookies,and a bucket of water for the reindeer and carrots..we exchange one gift on the eve,and the rest after brekky,before we headout and visit our neighbours and out later to catchup with family..
oneday i hope to have 6 white boomers out the front (kangaroos) with santa and his sleigh as a yard deco..google aussie xmas songs,they are great,our kids sing them at school with traditional songs..cheers..

captain kwa

we have the tree and decorations, but generally a cold lunch, like ham and salads or sea food. most australians christmases are based on english and irish traditions like having a proper lunch, but we have our own variations due to the weather etc

sasha.e

we normally put up decoration on te 1st of december,

we have advent calenders, kids have chocolate, and others give clues about what their present is.

then on the 23rd or 24th we drive around our town and look at the lights and decorations around town, its not as gay as it sounds by the way.

normally my family pull an all nighter

we unwrap christmas presents and play christmas carols

then we have a champagne breakfast. its normally really small,

then we have a massive lunch with my whole family, OR a massive dinner, its pretty much always a barbieque but itBarbequesometimes it seafood, or roast, or cold meat, this year its barbie :D

then we drink and chill.

thats what we do, and i know alot of other people do that, but other australians varies thier traditions,

excuse my bad spelling :)

antarcticice

From your brief description it sounds pretty much what we did when I was a kid (now mid 40s) full roast turkey/chicken, veggies, plumb pudding and cream, as for the tree this is still very popular with a mix of reals pine and fake plastic ones.
The barbecue and prawns thing is a modern move away from this (last 20 years or so) tradition and probably a good one given that we are in the height of summer and depending were in Aus you are it can be anywhere from 25c to 40c. I'm in Tasmania big island south of Australia were the climate is probably most like the U.K. and even here we have had 40c on Christmas day. The sea temp here is ~14c so the beach isn't quite as popular unless it's warm.

Hmmm, i wonder who the idiot is giving everyone thumbs down does he/she think we are all lying about or Christmas dinner habits or is it just a troll.

MissRomania

There is only one tradition for all celebrations: Drinking till falling under the table..very exciting.

Kerryn

wake up, rip open presents: play with them, use them, try them out, break them...
clean up paper
breakfast

eat too many lollies and chocolate
open a beer/champagne/west coast cooler

have lunch
drink a bit too much alcohol and begin arguing with the family members you've had a beef with for some time......
piss off down the pub....
or have a nap....

evening, eat left overs from lunch and watch some poxy christmas themed movie on tele...drink more alcohol...
go to bed with a full belly and a fuzzy head...

Mel

We have the usual tree and decorations here too. What is growing more and more in popularity is a cold lunch, ham, salads, chicken and of course prawns.

Many people head to the beach or play a game of cricket.

Some people still have a traditional Christmas with the full baked dinner. But as it's summer it's a little too hot to be in the kitchen.

In my family, we usually have the lights and decorations up by Dec 1st, so our house is all lit up as usual at this time of year. I have done all my Christmas shopping already. Christmas Eve we spend at my Dad's side, this year it's my Grandma's turn. The Christmas day with Mum's side, our turn. Boxing day we have friends over for left overs, yum!

Laura J

On Xmas day it is very busy... Im usually up before the kids... We open the presents then have a light breakfast (because we know we are going to be eating all day) then we go and visit the family for xmas lunch and eat some more. But the afternoon we are usually feeling fat and abit drunk!!! Dinner is leftovers. Xmas is usually really hot here so we go swimming in the lake or pool (which ever is closer). Xmas is a special time for the family to get together and celebrate.

Aussie the 2nd

Church first thing in the morning.....a reminder of what we are celebrating !
All the usual stuff ..tree & presents , especially for the little kids ....no big deal with a meal ...it's usually too hot !

John M

at our house we put up the xmas tree on the 1st December

for the main meal at 6pm we will have roast chicken, ham, lamb

at 12pm we go down to the local st vinnies in Sydney and help prepare meals for the poor people and disadvantaged people

and we open the present nice and early with the kids

Iron Maiden7282

We usually have seafood for lunch, prawns, oysters, etc. Lots of beer, cold turkey, ham, salad etc for dinner, because it's usually stinking hot on Christmas Day, get some sleep and wait for the Boxing Day Test the next day. We have tree etc. our traditions are similar to yours, they've just been adapted for our climate.

You've seen life through distorted eyes
You know you had to learn
The execution of your mind
You really had to turn
The race is run the book is read
The end begins to show
The truth is out, the lies are old
But you don't want to know

Garvers GF

We sleep in (cos we drank too much with our friends Xmas Eve)
Get up around 9.30am, put on the kettle and have a cuppa.
Swap presents with immediate family. If you get something serious like a bike you must ride it out front of your house so the whole street can see it.
Eventually get in the shower and get ready, then put on your new Xmas clothes. Open the first drink of beer or champagne and sit on the outdoor setting waiting for your first visitors to come over.
Drink some more with them - get out the nibbles.
Then more people come - more cuddles/kisses/drinks.
People leave, more people come. Then family gets there and you discreetly stop talking to the first visitors because you want to have presents before lunch.
They don't go, so presents have to wait and lunch is now late. We are all half cut at this point.
Presents!!! Fun fun fun - more drinks and laughter and tears of happiness. Photos of us all sitting on the floor amongst the wrapping paper.
Rest time on the lounge. Another last drink before you have to go to the in-laws.
Not hungry at this point and not really into presents either because they always give crap.
More drinks do the trick though.
Yawn through presents and sober up through tea. Go home and pass out around 10pm.
Ah, another lovely Christmas.

Adam Antium

Yeh we have all of that except we'r wearing shorts and thongs instead of woolen jumpers

jane austen fan

we put out or decorations couple of weeks before christmas, on christmas eve we leave out a beer and carrot for santa and his raindeers, pin a pillow case at the end our beds for santa to fill with presents. then early in the morning we unwrap santas presents, then after that we go to the christmas tree and unwrap presents from our parents and siblings then our family that can't make it to christmas lunch.
then family comes over and we spend our time in the pool and we have a roast and pudding.

:)

-brassmonkey-

The traditions here are the same pretty much as the UK.

I'm originally from Britain, and it's funny seeing tinsel, father christmas, sleigh decorations, fairy lights and so on in the 30 degree plus heat.

Big difference is the food on Xmas day - a roast dinner is just too much effort and too much to eat. Mostly cold stuff or BBQ is what our family has.

The length of Christmas is what makes me laugh though: in Sydney it seems to start on Melbourne Cup Day (first Tuesday in November) and gradually build up to Christmas week, then it carries on to Australia Day (26 January).

In that period, you will find every excuse being made to not work, go to the beach, skip school, get drunk, have a night out... And everything grinds to a halt for the four weeks around Xmas. Well, it is the height of summer...

My mum has a tradition: she must go to the beach on Xmas day. Even if the weather turns (as it frequently does).

I don't think I'll ever get used to Xmas in the summer. It's just not right... :o)

tamara m

it depends on a persons ancestry really, most people tend to follow either the german or the british style form of celebrating though. the main change is that most people either have a barbecue or a cold buffet style christmas lunch followed by backyard cricket, swimming or lounging in the shade.

chameleon

Well the traditions in our family were always dictated by the weather which is nearly always quite hot and humid here in Sydney. The emphasis is always on cold seafood - prawns, smoked salmon, smoked trout, crabs, Balmain Bugs etc and lots of salads. If the weather is fine we sometimes have a barbecue. We still carry on the tradition of the Christmas cake, puddings and mince pies. Fortunately beer seems to go with everything! No tree but I do decorate the balcony with some festive lights.
It's a great outdoorsy feeling but just once I would love to try a northern hemisphere white christmas.

Book Loving Teen

at our house, im usualy the first one up (i am 13, i love pressies) i get my stocking and go through that till my parents (only mum this year *shrug*) get up, then we open presants, put on any clothes that we got (i do anyway) and spend all day eating lollies and playing with our presants. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sometimes we go to the beach too.

Mrs M

Yep, Aussies have a tree and decorations. Lunch and dinner can either be hot or cold. Our family generally has cold meats and salads for dinner. Lunch is usually hot chicken, lamb and cold ham with salad.

Well.. not sure about everyone in Australia, but in my family :
Christmas tree and Christmas lights up some time at the start of Dec. then an advent calendar to count down the days..
Christmas eve cousins come over.. read 'The Night Before Christmas'.. put out biscuits and milk for Santa, carrots for the reindeers..
wake up early on Christmas morning, go check out the presents (without opening them).. wake up the parents, open presents..
whole family/close friends come over and we just eat, drink, swim, relax together.. we usually have a ham, a roast, maybe turkey, prawns, salad, pavlova for dessert..
good times! =)

Katie

Okay, my family aren't Christian but we celebrate Christmas in what I believe to be a fairly Australian way. (We celebrate Christmas as being together with friends and family rather than the religious belief).

So, on Christmas Eve we get together with friends and all the over 18s normally get drunk. (haha) we leave out bear, milk and cookies for santa as well as oats and carrot for the reindeers. we leave our large stocking/pillowcases out and turn on the Christmas tree lights together. we have a very tall Christmas tree which touches our roof.

On Christmas morning we wake up early and open all of our presents.
For lunch we meet up with all the family from dad's side as they all live nearby and we exchange gifts. sometimes we go to the park and play cricket/soccer. we eat roast ham and baked vegetables for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner but for lunch we have a BBQ. Sausage sangas, salads, coke, etc.

We decorate every single room in our house! (...except bathroom).

On Boxing Day we go to a friends house and celebrate with their family as well as we are very close with them. we swim in their pool all day long! sometimes we also go to the beach!

Shae D

In my family, we go visit dad early in the morning, have a nice bacon and eggs breakfast, and open pressies. at around 11 we go home, open pressies there with mum, and get ready to go to my aunties, then we have a big lunch there, cold meats (ham turkey chicken etc) salads, whatever people bring really lol, and now since we're all old enough, grog, can't forget that lol. then in the evening now, usually end up at my cousins having a few drinks there.

i think everyone has they're own traditions, no one here really does the same thing as anyone else lol, well not anyone i know. just the whole spending the day with the family and eating way too much, that's about all we have in common lol

ShortShelly

Roast dinner, or bbq.

TATO

Ooooh and theres all the fun and the pantomimes.

And drrrresssing up....and the mistletoe ! (oooh!)
But we have to go to Falls Creek for snow.

I was going to be christmas fairy this year but these imported trees are a touch too sharp and I wouldnt like to create a fuss !

Oh but all the possums will be coming to see me and well when your popular and famous what can you do?

Oh well I have so much fun to look forward to possums.

So ding dong merrily on high in dandenong !

dalepennycuick

in my family we spend christmas eve wrapping the kids pressies, generally i do this with my mum for the younger kids. On christmas day we do basics for brekkie, maybe pancakes/something special then all the kids open the presents.

for lunch we head to my nan's where we do a hot lunch (in the air con of course) and unwrap more presents come mid afternoon, then we do a cold dinner (ham,pork,chicken) outside and munch on junk throughout the night. Then we head home.

hope it helps!

wacki_jacqui

well my brothers and I live away from home but we meet up on christmas eve with our parents and spend a few nights at home with them. My family puts the tree up (we have a fake one that looks real haha) about the 7th of december. We hava a christmas lunch, with ham and chicken/turkey, seafood and salads and stuff. We have a pool so we normally just hang round that all day LOL its normally too hot to do anything else. Oh and we open out presents christmas morning really early. My twin brothers normally get up at 4am and feel the presents to see what they're getting...they're 28 just so you know LOL, so grown up!!!

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: