The Australian Twilight Zone

I may be dating myself a bit here with this headline....the Twightlight Zone is a fairly old program; I think what I am remembering is the re-runs. Anyway....
Here in West Australia it is getting warmer every day. It is now late spring and things are blooming like crazy. It's great. I am learning more about the native birds and the plants and flowers. The sun is very strong now, and I am quite brown already...summer is just around the corner. Me, Sam and Cami have been without a summer for a year now. We arrived here in May, 2008 missing the American summer, just in time for the Australian fall. Now it is almost November, and our last warm season was in June, July, August, 2007; more than a year ago. It's been warm enough to jump into the turquoise water of the Indian Ocean to cool off. We are assured it will be very, very hot by December. I believe it. The sun feels inordinately intense to me, and I am a die-hard sun worshiper. I have already been wearing hats and seeking shade in the middle of the day to escape the incredibly intense rays of the sun. I am turning 50 this year, after all, and I figure I don't need to help the sun turn me into more of a raisin than I'm supposed to be at this age!
Christmas is in full swing here, as Christmas decorations and goods are flooding the stores. It is surreal. I have no inkling that Christmas is around the corner as I would if I were immersed in the activities of fall in the U.S., planning for Halloween and Thanksgiving, enjoying the turning of the season as it becomes colder and more like weather Santa travels in. I told my son, Sam, that I think Christmas this year will feel like we are in the Twilight Zone. I have discovered to my horror that small, white Christmas lights sell for $29 Australian for a single strand. So much for my tradition of lighting up our home with twinkling white lights to make the season merry. Tonight we are turning the clocks forward, as Daylight Savings Time begins in earnest in West Australia. I have been waiting for this day since I arrived. I am so looking forward to that after-dinner swim in the daylight hours.
Christmas, I am told, is hot as hades. It is unlikely we will want a big dinner, and turning on the oven is out of the question. The marathon baking I usually do for Christmas is unlikely to happen...too hot. Besides, they sell their butter in different measurements, and I still can't figure out how many grams of butter are in 1 cup. It's frusTRATING, as the Australians say. The accent is all on the final syllable. So, instead of trying to re-create Christmas as we know it in America, I am all for getting on-board with the Australian way of celebrating. That is to say; "no worries, mate". We'll put some shrimp on the barbie for Christmas dinner or something that is grill-able, and spend the day at the beach. I'm told people don't decorate with Christmas lights much, since it's daylight savings time and it's light outside late until the evening. As for a Christmas tree, I guess you could spend a paycheck on a real tree, or decorate the Palm tree in your front yard. All that remains to be seen. I'll still make cinnamon rolls for my family, and we'll have presents to open on Christmas morning. After that, all bets are off and we'll do it the Aussie way. Don't think for a minute, though, that our hearts won't be back in America dreaming of a white Christmas and realizing the the magic of Christmas as we've always known it takes place on a cold winter morning with hot cocoa, a warm fire, fuzzy slippers and hearts on fire with love for our Savior, Jesus Christ and our family. THAT is what Christmas is all about, but we will find it here in Australia this year as well. I just know our first Christmas back home in the U.S. again after our time here will be extra, extra special to us all and our memories of how it should be will be right with the world once again.
Cheers.