December 22, 2006
We Wish You Lots of Presents Under a Pohutukawa tree!
This is pohutukawa, the New Zealand's Christmas Tree. Another kiwi icon, completely unfamiliar for anyone coming from the northern hemisphere. It is a pretty tree that grows all along the coasts of (at least North Island) of New Zealand. And, yes, you guessed right, it blooms just right in time for Christmas.
It is our 4th summery Christmas (2003 Indonesia, 2004 Philipines, 2005 Indonesia, 2006 New Zealand). So nothing new about snowless sunny long days and lack of anticipation. The difference now, I guess, is that the days will start to get shorter from now on. :) The summer has barely started and already the autumn is already coming in... :(
We haven't been good wih keeping up with the Xmas traditions of Finland and Lithuania. No Xmas food, no long fasting and special meals, no future telling, no family around the table, no candles, no long wait for the presents and no Santa Clause coming in (just had a discussion with Kaj: in Lithuania the presents come on Xmas morning, so you have to wake up early and race to the tree to see what has been brought to you on Xmas morning. And in Finland Santa Clause would come on Xmas Eve, while everyone would be in church. So now we have hard time deciding when and where our presents should appear. We're going to Ahipara in the North over Xmas. You may remember, we were there before. So its not wise dragging the presents with us, I guess we'll have to exchange them tomorrow morning (if I have it my way!) or tonight, if Kaj wins... In any case, for everyone, who is diligently waiting for the real Christmas, Merry Xmas and have peaceful and beautiful holiday!!! And meanwhile I'm on a "compulsory" holiday till the 8th of January! Yeah!!!!
Posted by gkligyte at December 22, 2006 07:23 PM