According to WhyChristmas, one of the largest Christmas information sites on the web, in Australia, Christmas comes in towards the beginning of the summer holidays—Children have their summer holidays from mid-December to early February, so some people might even be camping at Christmas.
"The temperature is normally in the mid to high 20 degrees Celsius; this makes it good weather to head to the beach or just the outdoors generally at Christmas time," the founder of the website and Christmas-loving web designer James Cooper told Bored Panda.
Cooper said Christmas in Australia is full of what we consider traditional Western Christmas items, like trees, wreaths, and, yes, fake snow. "Although the latter is rather odd, it's also part of a proper Christmas for many Australians."
Dani, a marshmallow maker from Sydney, confirmed the weather on Christmas Day is usually hot, but said it was a bit cooler and wetter this year. "We have had rain lately with humidity of 90%," Dani told Bored Panda.
"Because I've grown up with hot Christmases, I'm used to it being portrayed differently in the media. It is strange, though, because we all have large meals with hot, traditional food despite not being the weather for it! Lots of turkey, ham, and baked goods."
On Christmas Eve, many Australians rush to fish markets to buy fresh seafood for Christmas Day. Some like to have the 'traditional' Christmas pudding, but there might also be cold desserts like pavlova and trifle.
Most families try to be home together for Christmas and eat the main meal at lunch. They might have a cold Christmas dinner or a barbecue with seafood such as prawns and lobsters along with the 'traditional English' food. Families normally exchange presents on Christmas Day too.
Depending on the weather, Dani's family either sit outside in the backyard for Christmas lunch or inside with the air conditioning keeping them cool. "There's also lots of fresh seafood like oysters and prawns. Our fish markets are open nonstop in the days leading up to Christmas due to the demand—you can go and buy seafood at 2 am!"
"Carol singing concerts are very popular in Australia," Cooper explained. "Every state capital will have a Carols by Candlelight service/concert and they're broadcast on TV. There are also outdoor Christmas pageants and firework displays, etc."
On Boxing Day, people tend to visit their friends and often have barbecues with them at the beach. To top it all off, there's a famous yacht race from Sydney to Hobart, Tasmania, held on Boxing Day as well.
Now, I don't know if any of the gazillion creatures that can kill you in Australia take the holiday season off, but so far, Christmas sounds like a blast in the land Down Under!
