Hot or Cold Christmas?

The fluffy members of our family get into the Christmas Spirit

Growing up in South Africa I was only used to having Christmas in Summer. Since then, I've been lucky enough to have celebrated the holidays in white/winter destinations like France (Avranches, Normandie), London and Colorado, USA, and I must say that the whole experience of a white and chilly Christmas was thoroughly enjoyable, but not more so than a summery Christmas. I always hear Europeans and Americans saying  "Christmas won't be Christmas if it is summer", but to me, it was/is just normal. 

South Africans tend to keep the festive season as traditional as possible, with Christmas trees (mostly fake), presents, Santa Claus/Christmas Father and reindeer pulling the sleigh. (how else would the old man be able to deliver all the presents to good little children all over the world???). The only difference is that our Santa sometimes wears a bathing suit and Hawaii-style shirt in advertisements and a lot of people dine outside on Christmas day (at home or at a restaurant), so not everyone slaves away in a too-hot kitchen cooking a huge traditional meal. (and the town where I grew up gets REALLY hot - 90-100+ degrees Fahrenheit, so even though I love cooking, this is not the time of year when I want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen on time-consuming meals).

We usually try to travel back to South Africa for Christmas, to share it with our families, but that isn't always possible. Luckily for us, this year it will be and in 2 days time, we will be taking the extremely long trek down to Cape Town. Door to door, takes about 36 hours, but once you get there and the worst of the jet-lag wears off, it is so worth it.

As usual, Christmas Eve will be spent with my in-laws and Christmas Day with my parents. I'm not sure how that happened, but somehow, we've just created this tradition over the past few years. I'm so looking forward to spending some time with our families and friends during this magical time. After all, isn't that what the Festive Season is all about, spending time with the special people in your life, whether it be your husband/wife, family and/or friends. Hot or cold weather, to me it doesn't matter, as long as I can be with loved ones, I'm happy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!