Christmas is always the best time of year for me; I have no classes, no sports, no stress and nothing to worry about except spending some time in the sun and catching up with all my relatives. By now you should all know that I was born and raised in Australia, so come Christmas time in the southern hemisphere, it is the middle of a scorching hot summer. The days consist of 90-100 degree days spent on the beach surfing, eating and playing cricket with my family and friends. This is very different to what we are used to here in Rochester NY! It is usually freezing cold here, and outside is covered in a thick layer of snow. My freshman year I spent Christmas day in Pittsburgh PA, where I had a massive snowball fight and created snowmen and snow angels outside in the cold with 4 layers of clothes on. In a way I will miss the white Christmas that everybody dreams of, but I am excited to go home this year and have a sunny and sandy Christmas with my family. My home is close to many beautiful and natural hikes and trails, and I like to take my friends on those hikes so they get to experience the breathtaking view at the top. My favorite trail is called “Sublime Point;” it is a hike through the rain forest and is a good workout. It is not for the faint-hearted; to get to the top you have to climb over rocks, walk on tree logs, and climb steep ladders.
This year we are holding our family’s Christmas day at my older brother’s new house. We will all get together and throw some steaks, sausages and all sorts of other goodies on the barbecue and have a family feast. Once we have all eaten until we can’t eat anymore, we will play our family gift giving game. Everybody who is over 18 at the Christmas party buys a unisex gift under $50 and wraps it anonymously. We place those gifts in the middle of a circle and all sit around them. We deal out every card in a deck evenly among the circle of people. The then dealer draws a card from a separate, second deck and if you have that card (from the first deck), you go into the middle of the circle where all the presents are and pick one. Then you take that back to your seat and place it in front of you. The fun part comes next, when somebody else’s card comes up; they can choose one of two things: select a gift out of the center, or “steal” a gift from in front of somebody already. This is where all the friendly, sibling rivalries and competition come into play. Once somebody is all out of cards and they have a gift in front of them, it is their’s and no longer available to steal. As an example, at one point in the game, you could have three or four presents in front of you, but eventually they all get stolen and you are left with just one. Once we are all out of cards, we go around the circle and open up our gifts one by one; the majority of them are gag gifts and everybody gets a good chuckle out of them.
After the card game, we all go play backyard cricket in the sun and usually swim in the pool, or walk down to the beach and surf and play beach cricket. At night my immediate family and I all go to my mum and dad’s house and we watch a Christmas movie, having dinner and dessert at night.