2015 was our first southern hemisphere Christmas, in other words it was Christmas in the middle of summer. As you might guess, it was strange to have such a warm Christmas season (especially for this girl who grew up in Minnesota), but we did our best to make it just like any other Christmas. We found that Sydney had loads of Christmas activities to offer and we had our "best go at" exploring as many of them as we could. Here's a look at our December.
Christmas season actually started in November here (no Thanksgiving to celebrate for Australians). Emma was pretty happy with the start to the season with her playgroup Christmas party when Santa came to visit and gave her a gift.
Face paint, princess cape on and gift in hand!
While Steve and I missed having a few more of our sentimental Christmas decorations that we left back in the U.S., it didn't seem to bother Emma one bit. We got a tree and it was all about her homemade decorations this year.
Emma and I enjoyed exploring the downtown decorations. This was in the Strand Arcade, one of the historical downtown shopping centres.
Meeting Mrs. Claus for story time at a downtown department store.
Beautiful outdoor Christmas tree in the middle of summer.
Three story tall Swarovski Christmas tree in the historic Queen Victoria Building downtown.
We called this the Christmas bus, someone took a lot of time to decorate it! Just a regular city bus that was a special surprise for Emma and all the other kids that got on it.
So proud of her homemade gingerbread house!
We didn't really get any good pictures, but one night we went out to see one of the nearby neighborhoods that put up a lot of Christmas lights.
Out to the mall to find Santa and what did we find - face painting. This girl might think getting her face painted is one of the greatest things in the world and lucky for her there was no shortage during the holiday season.
We found Santa too!
Proud cookie helper!
So pleased with herself again!
Christmas Eve preparations for Santa (just don't tell her we actually pretended Christmas was a day later due to arriving back from Tasmania on Christmas day!)
She "kind of" understood Santa and Christmas last year, but this year she definitely got it!
Cookies, milk, a big carrot and a "Happy Christmas" letter for Santa and his reindeer.
One family photo with our Christmas jammies on and then I had them immediately off. Flannel and 80+ weather just doesn't mix.
Did Santa come?
Meticulously lining up her stocking gifts prior to opening...
Evidently when Santa comes she poses like a model for her photos.
And again.
Someone seems to like her new pedal bike from Santa.
And meticulously lining up all her gifts after she finished opening.
She rode a "pedal bike" at Grandma and Grandpa's for the first time late last summer, evidently she didn't forget what she is supposed to do.
Boxing Day (December 26) in Australia is also a national holiday. Most traditions revolve around barbecues and parties with friends and if you live in Sydney watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race in the harbour. Just minutes before it began the harbour was seemingly a complete "mess" of boats from our view in Sydney Harbour National Park in Mosman...
... but somehow they seemed to instantly line-up.
And then they were off! Although fun to watch, it was rather anti-climatic with the boats so quickly lining up and taking off. You're too far away to cheer and with more than 10 helicopters hovering above it is way too loud anyways. The way to really watch the race is to be in a watch boat where you can ride along besides the race boats until they reach the ocean. Now just how to go about affording a boat...
The last holiday of the year, New Year's Eve Day and the crowds were out all over the city in preparation for the fireworks (this is the view from Cremorne Point).
Sunset on a beautiful city.
We enjoyed the 9 pm kids fireworks, but hope sometime to see the "real show" at midnight in person. Instead we settled on watching the live broadcast at home and impressive is putting it mildly. There is an incredible amount of time, organization, and money poured into this event that showcases the city of Sydney to the world every year - whether or not it is time and money well spent the Australians will continue to argue about, but it was quite clear that it attracted a large number of international visitors.
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