All is calm . . .

It’s Christmas morning here, and in my little corner of the world it’s so quiet and peaceful. Even the birds are quiet. Many of my neighbors have already left for their Christmas gatherings. The sky is blue, not a cloud in sight and we’re heading for a top temperature of 88F (31C) and tomorrow, Boxing Day, they’re predicting 100F (40C).

So at seven this morning, while it was cool, I went next door to water my neighbor’s garden. She’s a keen gardener and grows a lot of vegies and herbs in wicking beds.  You can read about wicking beds here.  As long as you keep the water reservoir below topped up, the plants don’t wither and die in really hot weather. And her plants flourish. Just look at these lush lettuces, grown in quite a small container. So I’m very happy to keep her plants well watered while she’s away, and she does the same for me when I’m away.

Next I’m off to a friend’s house for a leisurely “friends and orphan’s breakfast” that she runs every year. It’s lovely and relaxed. There’s no presents,  a barbecue will be going in the back yard for bacon and eggs and French toast. Nobody stresses about food — we all bring something to share. I usually bring some fruit dish— last year I brought a plate of cute little strawberry Santas which went down a treat. 

We might miss out on the cold snowy Christmas that most of you in the Northern Hemisphere get, and which we were brought up to regard as what ’a proper Christmas’  is, but we are compensated by all the gorgeous fresh fruit that’s available.

When I was a child, pretty much everyone here had a roast dinner for Christmas. In my family we’d start with seafood — my grandfather would trap lobsters, and we’d add prawns, oysters, etc. Then a main course of roast meats — pork, turkey, ham, lamb — and roast potato and pumpkin, with green vegies and maybe a salad or two. Then we’d have plum pudding with custard or cream or icecream. There were silver coins in the pudding, which made us kids excited. Here’s a lovely recipe for brandy cream sauce made by my friend Marion Lennox.

But these days, a lot of family have developed new traditions, more suited to our climate than a hot baked dinner. We still do a seafood starter, but the main course is often just a baked something with lots of salads. And pavlova or trifle and fruit salad will often take the place of a hot plum pudding. I’ve made pavlova three times in the last month to take to Christmas gatherings  (yes I gave in to public pressure. (*g*). But I love plum pudding, and will still make it (or rather heat the ready-made bought one), and for the rest of the week will eat the cold leftovers like cake.

So, what is your Christmas like? Do you have traditional-to-your-family dishes? I must confess, I was surprised when I realized that most American families don’t eat the same kinds of food that we here (and in the UK) think of as traditional Christmas food. So I’m always curious and would love to know.