What do you picture when you think of Christmas and Christmas traditions? I bet snow, snowmen, a cold chill in the air, tacky Christmas sweaters, and a whole lot of other winter-like things popped into your head. Well I was curious what Christmas was like in the Southern hemisphere where Christmas is in the middle of summer. An Australian couple made this website which is devoted to telling those of us in the Northern hemisphere all about what Christmas is like without snow and short, cold days.
It's a really cool website if you want to go peruse around.
I got this excerpt below from their page about the usual weather.
Sunshine, surf, cricket, tennis & cool drinks,
what more could anyone want.
what more could anyone want.
Christmas in Australia is within three days of the longest day of the year therefore we have long daylight hours with warm temperatures instead of short days with long cold nights. Of an evening the sound of children playing outdoors drifts across the suburbs. If you would like to see the latest weather forecast here is a link to theCommonwealth Bureau of Meteorology.  While my granddaughter and I were discussing the Australian Christmas summer weather we suddenly decided that although we did not have frost and snow we did have an interest in ice. It is needed on our plates to keep our oysters cold, it is needed to keep our prawns (shrimps) cold and it is needed to keep our drinks cold. You can have any type of weather for your Christmas in Australia except a white Christmas. However Christmas 2000 saw a light covering of snow on some of the mountain peaks in the island state of Tasmania. So to have a white Christmas you must climb a mountain and then only about every ten years will you actually have a white Christmas. Please note that here is no truth in the rumour that Australia changed Jesus' birthday to June so we could celebrate Christmas in winter. |
| 24th December 1974 |
|---|
| Cyclone Tracy arrived in Darwin. The cyclone destroyed the town of 40,000 people. Most did not wake up on Christmas morning as they had been awake all night while their home blew away in the strong winds. Cyclones are a product of the summer season. |
| 26th December 2001 |
| Mother nature was up to her tricks again, with temperatures in the low 30's Celsius and strong winds, the state of New South Wales experienced about 70 major bush fires on Christmas Day 2001. About 5,000 fire fighters and other emergency personnel were on duty on Christmas Day with up to 20,000 people being engaged in fire fighting and support services at the height of the blaze which raged for 22 days before rain and calm conditions allowed it to be brought under control. |
| December 2006 |
| This year the vast majority of the continent of Australia is in the grip of a serious drought. Most major water storage systems are at very low levels and the weather forecasters are not promising any significant rainfall in the coming months, especially in the south of the continent where it is most needed. |
| December 2006 Lyn, NSW wrote:- I’ve only been in Australia for 11 years now and I still miss my English Christmas celebrations in the snow / freezing cold! It is difficult not to feel ‘disappointed’ by the lack of snow, the heat, etc.. in an Ozzie Christmas, but then there are the street parties, having the neighbours over for drinks, the fabulous seafood, the lightshows, the swimming pool, and of course warm feet and fingers! |
| An Australian "Snowman" |
 Here is a snowman built from beach sand. The 'sand-man' is wearing a broad brimmed hat for protection from the sun. The red and white scarf and the carrot nose indicate the link to the traditional snowman. More details |
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