It's Summertime in Adelaide, and while I'm happy for the dry heat and rays of sunshine (give me that D), I find myself wanting to wind down, go inward, and cozy the F up with cheesy Christmas movies.
Life is slowing down between end-of-year work and the kids' school break — and we are watching the best that the Hallmark channel has to offer — but it still feels like I'm ramping up.
Winter creates the perfect sensorial backdrop to close a year out. To cocoon, reflect, dream, plan .. to be still and then ramp up.
Summer provides the opposite. Summertime tends to be more active, engaging, and high-energy. Like all those winter dreams and plans should be set in motion. Action, action, action.
My habitual end-of-year slow period now lands squarely in the most vibrant season of all. Creating an intentional pace for myself is proving an interesting re-frame and practice — How can I be still enough to reflect on the year that's been, and plan to ramp up for the next, when the warmest season begs for long beach days and lazy siestas? How do I flow with this energetic dissonance?
While I figure that out, I really am feeling more at home than ever, literally and metaphorically.
But there's another seasonal thing that I must discuss: Christmas decor.
We all know what Christmas looks like in the Northern hemisphere: snowflakes, hot peppermint cocoa, snowmen, snow-covered pine trees, garlands, etc.
Down here, in my gum-tree neck of the woods (that's eucalyptus tree for the uninitiated), I see elements of all of the above, and it doesn't feel right.
I've lived in other places where Christmas didn't fit the winter wonderland mold either, and it never bothered me. But for some reason, here in Australia, the pop-cultural contrast seems like a missed opportunity to make Christmas look and feel more of place.
I grew up in Los Angeles where winter is more autumn-like with an occasional day or two of "surfing Santa" weather. My first taste of a proper white winter was as a Junior in college during a national student exchange program in Rhode Island. It was around Thanksgiving when a classmate asked me if we (Southern Californians) decorated palm trees instead of pine trees for Christmas. They were dead serious. On the flip side, it blew my mind that they cut their own Christmas trees on nearby land. That's pretty much where the Christmas differences ended, because we technically shared the same season. Different but the same.
Here in Australia it feels out of place to hear the Frosty The Snowman song play in the mall, or to walk by shop window when it's 90 degrees outside and see snow-themed decor.
I hear myself say "that's up there" as I mentally point to Western countries above the equator.
Down here it's different, but the same.
Different seasons.
Same holiday.
When Joe and I lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — with hot and humid weather year-round — I found it jarring to come across Winter Wonderland motifs or fake pine Christmas trees inside shopping centers. It's literally a jungle out there! I can't speak to how it is now but ten years ago, if you wanted a real pine tree for your American/European-style Christmas, a small imported one could be yours from IKEA starting at $200 a pop.
I decorated a small tropical houseplant instead and remembered my classmate from Rhode Island. I also purchased two silk koi fish ornaments from a Chinese Christmas market that felt far more of place than anything else ... that is if Christmas must be celebrated, which in my case, it must.
Here in our new home, Australiana visuals are beautiful and their inspiration plentiful. Which makes me wonder why, in the major department stores and mainstreet storefronts, the holiday decor can seem like copy and paste work from the USA, England, and Europe?
The obvious answer is because Australia's population consists heavily of people from English and European decent. And that Australians consume A LOT of American culture.
But being original, of place, can be so much more fun.
I've become obsessed with discovering Australian Christmas decor across residences, storefronts and retails interiors. Chalk it up to time or more headspace, but it feels like this year I've noticed more of the symbols and motifs to answer my Silly Season question: what does an Australiana Christmas look like?
Australiana Christmas can look like:
Eucalyptus garlands with gum nuts
Wreaths with native flowers (and yes, pines as they do exist here)
Native birds
Koalas and Kangaroos ... throw a wombat in, too
Cottons, linens, and crushed velvets instead of felt and wool
Lighter, brighter, and warmer colors ... just like the Summer season itself.
I was so excited to spot this shop window in a small country town with vinyl decals featuring some of the above.
And for our home, a recent addition from Austin Bloom features native greens and flowers ... adding a festive Australian touch to our existing Christmas decor.
Perhaps my desire to experience Christmas through of place themes and aesthetics stems from the fact that I've never had to try as hard to make a place a home as I have here.
It's been the most challenging, and rewarding, transition period of my life. And as my nature goes, the way things look and feel play a big role in making sense of place and time.
Of feeling grounded.
Of feeling good.
Not decor related, but stay with me: food has helped ground me wherever we've been in the world. From London to Australia, my husband and I have gone out of our way to make Colombian buñuelos every Christmas, because that feels good and grounded in my experience of Christmas.
I reckon that Christmas decor from the North also felt grounding to all of the people who moved their lives and traditions Southward, generations ago. And some things just stick because they feel good.
So, I think I'm done questioning the rhymes and reasons for the seasons.
The shift in seasonal energy, and decor, threw me for a loop the first year but now that I anticipate what Summer and Christmas looks like way below the equator, I'm learning to flow with how it feels. And all the while, feel more of place, myself.
Happy festive season.
See you in 2025!
A few more Australiana visuals for you ...
