Surviving your first Christmas away from home

Merry Christmas!! Not exactly a white Christmas though, not this year. This year was my first Christmas ever not in snow, not at home and not in Canada. This December was my first ever Kiwi Christmas!

I can’t say it felt quite like Christmas. As a Canadian girl, Christmas’ are always filled with snow and usually with a blizzard around the corner. Which after talking with mum at home that’s exactly what they were expecting. Here, its lush and green, sun is shining and you can step outside and not freeze… It’s weird. I know I sound the crazy ‘cause who wouldn’t want that, but if you’ve spend 26 years in a winter wonderland getting into the Christmas spirit is just not the same.

You don’t see too many Christmas lights here or Christmas trees up. Its light here until after 9 so really nothings lit up for too long anyways. Whereas home, 5:30 comes around and unless you do have a light you can’t see in front of you. It’s in all honesty just strange.

The thing is though, in all the weirdness and strange feelings, even a little homesick, unless ya hop on a plane there’s nothing you can do about it. I wasn’t about to go off the deep end and ship myself home so I made the most of it. I realized it can be similar to home with a few missing details, it will be ok and everything works out quite well.

Here is how you survive your first Christmas away from home.

#1 Appreciate your surroundings

First off, you have to realize that if you come from a place of snow and the typical winter feel and you come to a place like NZ, you just won’t have that. You can’t recreate a white wonderland and that’s just that. So… instead, you totally embrace how cool it is to be able to play games outside, in shorts and a tank or singlet as they would say or not have to bundle up to go to aunt Margarets house or simply go for a lovely walk outside, which is exactly what we did Christmas day in Hallsworth Quarry in Christchurch. We took a nice walk while others were having family cricket and rugby games outside and bbqs enjoying the summer day getting a little too much sun just as I had.

#2 Fa la la la la la la la la

Crank those tunes! If you’re a caroling fan of course. If you’re not, skip to #3? For me, I LOVE Christmas music. You can find me singing them in July and I know all the words and renditions! So imagine my worry not knowing what I was going to get from NZ radio. Well clearly I overreacted because it turned out Feliz Navidad, Sleigh ride and all my Christmas favs like Kelly Clarkson or Buble were all over the radio. I took full advantage of turning it up lighting up the Christmas cheer in my system!

#3 Oh Christmas tree

Simply, get a tree.  Sounds silly but for me Christmas is when this décor extraordinaire goes crazy! My parents would not only get two trees, the bathrooms would be done up, every room had some decoration and we had Christmas lights everywhere they could see us from space. When my boyfriend’s family said they probably weren’t putting up a tree, well I took matters into my hands and put one up for them. I couldn’t have my first Christmas away from home, with no snow and no tree. Cheesy but putting up a tree just took me down memory lane of decorating with my mom and gave me a special appreciation for those little moments.

#4 10 minutes at 350⁰

I did a little baking for Christmas— gingersnaps and shortbread. It’s simple but I emailed mom for her shortbread recipes. She explained every detail just as she would if I was home and being able to share it with the Kiwis here saying ‘its my mommas recipe’ gave me warm fuzzies.

#5 Embrace the day

There is nothing like Christmas at home, no doubt, but the only way to stay away from turning into Ebenezer Scrooge is to just embrace it all. I realized how similar you can make it to home which didn’t make me feel so far away.

My boyfriend’s aunt is from Canada and has lived here for the last 20 years. To more of my surprise we met a few of their Canadian guests at dinner who were visiting for the holiday season. Very cool to have a little red and white this Christmas in NZ.

We didn’t throw no shrimps on the barbie, instead we had a variety of meats including ham, beef and fish with fresh salads and of course a savoury display of deserts with the fresh seasonal fruit. The deserts, trifle, meringue, ice cream, cheesecake… of course were my favourites. Doesn’t sound all too bad does it?

Now I know Christmas isn’t just based on what you eat, instead it’s the feeling, and all though from Dorothy herself, “there’s no place home”… places away from home aren’t always all that bad either. I met a lot of people first the first time and it was cool learning where they’re from, what they do etc. It’s really a test to yourself to stay open minded, positive and make the most of what you have. Besides, best to learn now, who knows where I might be next Christmas!