Christmas is different in this land of ours at the further reaches of the southern hemisphere. With the summer solstice just a few days ago, our days are at their longest and all schools and many businesses have closed for the long summer break. The festivities many love over Christmas and New Year are intertwined with the feeling that now is the time to relax and recover, to enjoy the warmth of summer.
May you find peace and happiness in whatever way you choose to mark this time of the year wherever you are. Mark and I will likely be in the garden.
Seasons greetings and may you go well and stay safe.
Abbie
I was up the top of our tall platform ladder to get these photos – a view of the Court Garden which we do not usually see because it has been designed and planted to be immersive at ground level, with no long vistas.
Tikorangi The Jury Garden 
Christmas during summer still seems odd to me.
Merry Christmas!
And merry Christmas to you, Tony! Christmas lights never made any sense to me (very difficult to take small children to see the lights when it doesn’t get dark til after 9pm and much later the further south you go) until I was in London one December. When it gets dark soon after 3pm, they make a whole lot more sense. In my lifetime, I have seen the traditional Christmas in this country morph into something way more seasonally appropriate – barbecues, outdoor dining, swimming, cold beers and family cricket games are more the order of the day now.
Most Christmas traditions are irrelevant to Christmas anyway. It is nice that so many people enjoy them, but there should be more adaptability.
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year, Abbie. We have pretty much the traditional Christmas here (except that the religious aspect is no longer part of it) with the usual meals and practices.
Brussel sprouts and parsnips? All the best, Paddy.
Sprouts and carrots this year – being soooo adventurous!