mince pies – Dale and Becca

Christmas in the UK.. I had workmates and English people asking me if it was weird to have Christmas in Winter, and how different does it feel?

Christmas in NZ is in Summer. We usually still have a big tree, with tinsel, decorations and lights, and usually a big cooked dinner. We wear fluffy Santa hats for as long as we can, but they usually come off pretty quickly, as it is summer, and if we’re lucky, it gets hot. Christmas day activities are usually walks in the park, beach visits, or a swim at the lake. There is usually warmth and sunshine* and jandals. But our cards are still covered in snow, wrapped up santas, robins, and roaring fires. So in a way, it was setting us up for winter.

Christmas in the UK is cold, dark, and grey. But weirdly, it doesn’t feel that out of place, it feels like it should be. There’s a reason for having the Christmas lights, and decorating houses and shops, and being festive, and that’s because it is dark by 4.30pm! You need the lights and cheer and parties, otherwise everyone would be sad. Christmas Jumpers are totally a thing here, and its because its darn cold, and you want to snuggle up. Also, the worse the jumper, the better. Bobbles and pompoms and fluff stuck on the front, santas and reindeer and lights that actually light up, cause there is a battery pack attached to the sweater.

I had made my usual mince pies and christmas cake, and we were looking forward to eating them.

Carol Service

The best mince pies have kitties on them

The tree in the square

Pretty tree

Present time

Squirrel lens!!!!! (a zoom lens for squirrels)

Tree Squirrel (Thanks Erin 🙂 )

Our Christmas consisted of a delicious pancake breakfast at Erin and Chris’s house, with Stacey, and a friend. It came complete with berries, maple syrup, and plenty of bubbles.

“Roaring fire”

Gingerbread house

What a pretty table! I should have taken an after shot too

Food and booze! Becca, Erin, Chris, Stacey, Dale

Mmmm mince pies

We relaxed and hung out, then later on went for a walk along the beach, even though it was grey and windy and cold. I tried out my new zoom lens, and we tried to stay warm, meeting up with Lenka, and her dog Luna. They played on the beach, and we watched the starlings .. murmurating… where they all fly around in a crazy flock together. The like to do it at dusk and dawn, and it was getting dark by 4pm, cause of the clouds.

Beach walk

Lets skip!

Birdies

Old pier

Cuties

Erin doing her vlogging thing

Even the doggies had jumpers!

Starlings over Brighton Pier

Santas on a bike

Walkies

Brighton Pier

Luna

Shark egg

A rough and stormy channel

Sunset lolz

After a nice long walk, we headed back to ours, for a good and proper cooked roast dinner, and then game playing. It was just how I like Christmas, nice and relaxed, with plenty of food, and family.