Christmas Confusion

Even after months of internal and external reminders, even after seeing Christmas decorations around town, even after spending hours Christmas shopping with Kirsten, even seeing the small pile of presents in the corner of our lounge... I can not get it through my head that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. It is sunny, gorgeous, warm beach weather, and I cannot make that fit with Christmas.

Moreover, it seems that Kiwis struggle with that as well, despite their many years of practice. For example, Santa still wears his warm winter clothes (and is very sweaty), the Christmas stockings are decorated with snowflakes, the "holiday" images in a lot of the stores include snowy winter scenes, and some wrapping paper still says, "Let it snow." As if this wasn't confusing enough, it not only doesn't snow at Christmas here, it doesn't snow ever here. They don't need to associate snow with anything, let alone a summer holiday. On the other hand, perhaps since they never have snow, it's not as weird to talk about it at Christmas time, because it's as good a time as any to focus on something that doesn't happen here. I actually heard that the only time it's snowed in Whanganui was during a freak cold snap in summer, and that it was around Christmas time.

While we're on the subject of climate, I should mention that Whanganui has one of the most moderate climates in the world, as measured by the least difference between the coldest ever and hottest ever temperatures. Isn't that interesting? That is what makes it possible for somewhere that never experiences snow to have it happen in one of the warmest months - summer and winter just aren't as different as someone from... say... Kansas would expect. They don't have the extremes, and so their "unseasonable" weather can therefore closely resemble the opposite season. I think that's pretty neat. I know that the weather can change quickly in Kansas, but we could never have a -10F (-23C) day in the middle of summer, or a 105F (40C) in the middle of winter. But here the range is only about 32F (0C) to 82F (28C), and you can switch between those temperatures surprisingly quickly, especially with how incredibly windy it is and how intense the sun is.

Hmmm, that was nothing if not a tangent, but now you know.

As for Christmas, it has not sunk in at all. However, we are going to our friend Jonathan's parents' house for a big, family Christmas, and I know that that is something recognizable. So I'm just waiting for that, and it will feel like Christmas, I'm sure.

In the mean time, I have to show you what Jan and her husband, Brian, gave us for Christmas:

Jan had this painting, and others that Brian has done, (which are all amazing), hanging in her café. I have always loved this one. I love the bright colours - they are much more impressive in person - and the smooth, shiny vases. Anyway, I frequently complimented Jan on it, and she told Brian, and they decided to give it to us for Christmas. How spoiled are we? I hung it up in the lounge, and we are loving it!