Hello! Christmas in Australia? Traditions?

[java]

Hi my 2nd Grader has to do a presentation on Christmas in Australia. I can google search - but would love first hand info on what your favorite traditions are.
I also have to bring in some treat - besides Nutella and Vegemite I got nothing. Any recipes for treats to share also?

Thanks for any help you can give us! (He picked Australia) Good Day Mates(is that offensive? I hope not)

 

[aussiegirls]

I am not sure we have traditions as set in stone as they do in the US.

For a lot of people Christmas is spent at the beach or by the pool. For us it is spent with family usually eating cold seafood such as prawns (shrimp), lobster, some meat chucked on the BBQ and salads and I think that is a standard menu for many Aussies.

One thing that we always have a Christmas that you could probably make to take to school are those truffle things that are made with arrowroots, condensed milk and cocoa. I don't have a recipe but maybe someone else on here does.

Good luck

P.S Good day mates is not offensive but if you want to say it properly it's G'day LOL

xxx

 

[kylieh]

Our Summer school holiday time starts today (my DD's school) and for other schools sometime between now and the end of next week I believe. They have until the end of January on holidays. Christmas therefore is the start of our major holidays in Australia.

Christmas is normally our big family day as we don't have/celebrate (?) Thanksgiving in Australia. Our family has a cold lunch with prawns, chickens, salads. Desert is a pavlova or triffle or pudding and icecream and custard with a coin!

I expect the temperature t be quite hot.

Some of our family will go to midnight Mass. Santa leaves presents whilst we're all sleeping. DD has to wait until 6am before getting up We open presents from Santa and our immediate family, have a cup of tea, maybe bacon and eggs for breakie. Then mid-morning we're all off to MIL's house including lots of cousins for lunch.

Before lunch though there will be present opening, more presents, BIL will assemble any of the kids presents that need it.

The day before I'm arranging the chickens and prawns, my SIL I think is doing the salads, another BIL the drinks. MIL will probably do the rest. We have nibbles all day - chips lollies, etc.

The day after Christmas Day is Boxing Day which I believe a public holiday in NZ and Canada as well. We all have the day off to recover after Christmas. A lot of families start their holiday/vacation this day and the airports and roads heading out of town are really busy. Because Christmas Day is Saturday and Boxing Day is Sunday we get additional public holidays. So (in NSW and I'm the sure in other states) Monday is a day off and Tuesday!

Overall, for our family it is a really relaxing day (minus the stress ) Having a hot Christmas is great fun as it part of a truely relaxed day.

Edited for:

Pavlova (though I think it may be a NZ recipe that the Aussie's stole, hehehe) http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/7271/classic+pavlova There are a thousand variations, just google.

Triffle - Australian ones are normally jelly/jello and cake and cream.

Lamingtons - YUMMO - http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/3352/lamingtons

TimTams if you have an Australian shop near by. These are the best biscuits (cookies?) in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tam

 

[heidispidi]

At my house, we have an early night on Christmas Eve, waiting for Santa to arrive. We leave carrots out for Santa's reindeer and a beer for Santa We wake up early (whenever the kids get up!) and open presents from Santa around the Christmas tree. We have breakfast of croissants and champagne and OJ, before preparing the Christmas lunch (I don't eat seafood so I like to go for the traditional turkey, ham and roast potatos still). We entertain our family around the pool, eating and drinking WAy too much, before usually doing it all over again a few hours later for dinner!

I LOVE those 'rum balls' that Aussiegirls has described. If you go to the Nestle website and look for recipes under 'Sweetend Condenced Milk', you should find them. Very easy to make, and SO yummy after an hour or two in the fridge!

Good luck with your son's project!

 

[HappyFingers]

cmon ladies

no one has mentioned anzac biscuits
http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Anzac-Biscuits-L79.html

now i dont think anyone could say anzac biscuits is a christmas tradition but hey, they are about as Australian as it gets when it comes to good Aussie Tucker (food)

so after youve cooked them whilst they are still warm, put them over a cupcake tray and put a slight dent in them by pushing them down into the mold and thus forming a cup and then allowing to cool

meanwhile get your self a large tin of sweetened condensed milk
boil the can (unopened) in a pot for 3 hrs (yes 3 hrs)
when finished allow to cool and then open
you will have some awesome caramel stuff in there now

get your cupped biscuits and put some caramel in the bottom, followed by strawberry jam, followed by fresh wipped cream and another dollap of caramel on top and even if you are feeling really naughty chuck (throw) some melted chocolate on top

very very nice

as far as tradition goes i think because we are such a diverse society we pretty much get exposed to the traditions of all cultures around the world, including to some degree, halloween

failing that just get your son to take a six pack of beer to the presentation

 

[battymum]

Hot weather, alcohol, overtired kids, overworked wives, relatives .... Oh Joy

 

[Kalice]

The easiest recipe to prepare would be the rum balls (without the rum). Use any plain sweet cookie. Also, fine desiccated coconut. Make them the size of a medium marble. Kids love them

http://www.food.com/recipe/aussie-christmas-rum-balls-269938

We go to the beach nearly every Christmas morning (after opening presents). Our lunches as mentioned before tend to be more of a salad buffet type, with a good ham. We have pavlova for dessert, covered cream and summer fruits. Yummo. Very similar situation for our evening meal (just usually with different people).

Boxing day we meet at a park with our friends have a BBQ and a huge game of cricket.

 

[java]

Thanks all for the information. I want to come to Australia for Christmas- beachside celebration sounds great to me!

I have always wanted to try Pavlova- and rum balls sound great too. Keep the ideas coming!

 

[Aust]

I vote for pavlova, it's pretty easy to make and tastes delicious! We usually have one at Christmas.

When I'm doing Christmas at my place it's usually a combination of the traditional foods like roast turkey, pork and ham, served with salads due to the hot weather. Everyone eats a lot then the kids spend the rest of the day in the pool.

 

[cola]

Christmas is Summer in Australia. We get lots of tourists escaping the northern hemisphere winter. Australia gets a lot of 'backpackers' visiting, backpackers aren't travellers doing hiking, they are travellers on a tiny budget, saving their money for one off experiences (skydiving) rather than luxury accommodation, so they often stay in hostel dormitory style accommodation. On Christmas Day they flock to Bondi Beach, so much so that they've had to bring in rules about no alcohol etc. http://www.lonelyplanetimages.com/images/439575 is a picture of backpackers out in the mid-day sun in Bondi at a ticketed party where they can buy beer. http://wentworth-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/bondi-to-be-a-dry-beach-for-christmas-break/ is a news report and shows what the scene on the sand can look like! You get similar scenes along the coast at all the major tourist areas.

Traditions for locals are usually lunch, either seafood and/or BBQ, or the traditional Christmas fare of baked turkey/ham etc IF they have air conditioning. Temps on Christmas day over 100degF/37degC are common for most of Australia away from the coastal areas, so ovens without air conditioning are madness! Along the coastal areas it can vary a lot, but there is always the possibility of getting around 100degF and always the possibility of bush fires. In the tropics of northern Australia, it's the tropical storm season (called cyclones, they're like hurricanes) so instead of bush fires they sometimes have to worry about floods and storms. One year there was even a cylcone that landed on Christmas Eve/Day, a very, very, very small, very very, VERY intense Cyclone Tracy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Tracy

Christmas Lights are becoming more and more popular, though having seen some US Christmas light efforts on TV, they are pretty primitive in Australia Some entire streets take part and there will be ice-cream vans and often a fund raising 'sausage sizzle' (mini-BBQ) for a charity when it's a whole street.

http://www.lifestylechannel.com.au/christmas/ has some food descriptions and photos of Christmas lights (for some reason the navigation on the left is easy to miss, but that's got articles and videos)

http://www.lifestylechannel.com.au/christmas/

 

[heidispidi]

It's also the best time of year to have time off work (holidays) as many businesses shut down for the Christmas/New Year period - only 10 working days left for me (Sorry, but time is dragging, and our air con is broken here in the office - I Just want to move on to Christmas!!!).

 

[becpee]

Our Christmas is like a lot already mentioned.

We will get up reasonably early and cook a small breakky of pancakes or something nice like that.

We do a traditional Christmas lunch (turkey, potatoes, tomato pie, followed by pudding (yuk) and pavlova for me )

Nibbly bad food all day (lollies, chocolates).

We usually travel to somebody elses home for dinner (usually another Christmas dinner) and maybe some seafood.

One of our department stored in the city has a Christmas display in their windows every year, this year it is The Nutcracker

http://www.myer.com.au/whats-on_christmas-at-myer_christmas-windows.aspx

There are barbecues along the Yarra River in the city for Christmas breakups

A long standing tradition is the Boxing day test on the 26th December (Australia V England cricket) which most of the men in the country stop for, on this day a lot of women head to the shops for the massive Boxing day sales.

 

[Toy Story]

I also think pavlova would be the way to go, served with cream and a variety of berries (strawberry, raspberry and blueberry) or mixed fruit, strawberry, kiwi-fruit and banana. You can always make individual serves by tracing around the bottom of a coffee mug and let the students choose their own topping.

I agree with the cricket suggestion, I am sure there are a lot of cricket sets (or beach cricket sets along with beach towels and swimming gear under the tree at Christmas). Another 'Christmas Sporting Tradition' is the Sydney to Hobart yacht race which starts on Boxing Day.

As far as traditions, both Sydney and Melbourne host major Carols by Candle light, which are televised. Carols by Candle Light are held in neighbourhoods across the county - which can be interesting when we have total fire bans, so we end up with Carols by torch light. There are some Christmas Carols, that emphasise the 'larakin Aussie' - Six White Boomers.

 

[PrincessInOz]

An online Pavlova recipe. I prefer mine topped with Strawberry, KiwiFruit and Passionfruit.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/7271/classic+pavlova


Christmas in summer wear:

1. T-shirt
2. Shorts
3. Thongs
4. Zinc Cream

And it isn't Christmas without these!

Well....perhaps you could substitute the beer for Soda/Pop.

 

[Luisa]

Everyone has forgotten White Christmas - its an Australian sweet made with rice crispies, copha (it's a type of shortening made with coconut) and glacé cherries, theres lots of variations. If you google White Christmas slice you should find recipes pretty easily- it's ridiculously sweet but addictive.

 

[Jade+3]

There is an Australian version of Jingle Bells that my kids love

http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/xmas/australianjinglebells.shtml

Christmas for us depends on where we have it. If we stay at home I prefer prawns (shrimp?), cold chicken, ham, salad and pavlova. If we go to the IL's, MIL still likes to do the traditional roast even though it is stinking hot. IL's have a pool, we don't, so it is a trade-off.

We usually go to a carols by candlelight, or in our case, carols by glow stick. We also try and visit at least one Santa in a shopping centre or department store.

 

[BecBennett]

cmon ladies

no one has mentioned anzac biscuits
http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Anzac-Biscuits-L79.html

now i dont think anyone could say anzac biscuits is a christmas tradition but hey, they are about as Australian as it gets when it comes to good Aussie Tucker (food)

so after youve cooked them whilst they are still warm, put them over a cupcake tray and put a slight dent in them by pushing them down into the mold and thus forming a cup and then allowing to cool

meanwhile get your self a large tin of sweetened condensed milk
boil the can (unopened) in a pot for 3 hrs (yes 3 hrs)
when finished allow to cool and then open
you will have some awesome caramel stuff in there now

get your cupped biscuits and put some caramel in the bottom, followed by strawberry jam, followed by fresh wipped cream and another dollap of caramel on top and even if you are feeling really naughty chuck (throw) some melted chocolate on top

very very nice

as far as tradition goes i think because we are such a diverse society we pretty much get exposed to the traditions of all cultures around the world, including to some degree, halloween

failing that just get your son to take a six pack of beer to the presentation

That sounds awesome! I'll have to give that a try!

I'm also voting for the pavlovas. I have mine with just whipped cream and strawberries, but if you're feeling adventurous you can coat some of the strawberries in chocolate or toffee for a little extra crunch.

We get up before the sun and open pressies, then we generally don't stop eating until New Years. Prawns, ham, salads, mangoes, cherries, chocolate, lollies.

We usually feel quite sick by new years, and that heralds the "new start" where we all start our diets!

Also seconding the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race and the cricket. It's not Christmas with these sporting events going on in the back ground.

 

[java]

Thanks again all. The mini pavlovas are cooling right now. I'll assemble them tomorrow with some whipped topping and strawberries. They are so cute. And one "accidentally" fell into my mouth- so yummy- kind of marshmallowy.

Thank you.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Glad it worked out Java. Hope the pavs were well received and thanks for the update!

 

[heidispidi]

Mmm...I'm making them for Christmas night...yum! Glad you enjoyed them