Ok, I know I'm not going to get much sympathy but I love Christmas so much and I just can't get in the mood. Last Christmas was our first here as a family so had the novelty thing going for it (and the weather was crap on Christmas day so we just stayed indoors, ate turkey and did the usual stuff), but this year it's real life. I bought advent calendars on the 1st, totally forgot that school breaks up tomorrow so had a last minute rush to buy a present for the teacher, and even though I really enjoyed the pre-school nativity last week it's just not the same in the air con!

I love living here and I'm not the ungrateful cow that I sound, but how can I make things more Christmassy??????????????

Oops, guess I should have mentioned that I'm in Sydney!

Could you crank the air con up , put up decorations and christmas music on-might help a bit!

Have dug out my Christmas CD and am playing it on a loop but that could lead to divorce before Christmas

I felt like this for the first couple of Christmasses we were in Sydney, then made a conscious decision not to try and make Christmas like Dickensian England.

Things we used to do, sort of Christmas rituals, Carols by Candlelight in the Domain, barbecue at Audley in the Royal national Park, checking out the decorated houses in Bonnet Bay (don't think they do it there so much now, but bet there are other places). Going to David Jones food hall and looking at all the yummy food, and treating myself to oysters and a glass of wine (obviously not when the DC's are with you, this will ruin the chilled out mood).

Gave up on the big Christmas dinner (although MIL always used to do one if we went to theirs, and it was awful if the weather was hot). We usually had a leg of ham, salads, a huge potato bake of some kind, cranberry sauce , good ice cream and as many different fruits as I could fit in the fridge - exotic stuff like papaya and lychees, mangoes, fresh pineapple etc.

We also did a huge seafood barbecue on Christmas eve - it's actually great fun going to Pyrmont for the seafood at about 6am on Christmas Eve morning, then going for breakfast in Glebe or Paddington afterwards.

We ment to do the fish market last year but didn't, think we definitely will this year, thanks for reminding me dweezle! Will also check out Carols by Candlelight. Took DD to look at the DJs Christmas windows on Monday then Santa at Myer (better grotto) which was lovely. I also bought the CUTEST wooden advent calendar in the shape of a tree with doors to open - I'm getting there