Christmas in the summer

[TheSandgroper]

I saw this https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/1hl4k9l/i_love_australian_summertime_christmas_desserts/
and wondered how Mumsnetters were going.

What are you making? That trifle looks amazing but I can't be arsed. I'm making a coconut/white chocolate cream pie and am undecided about a pavlova. It might just be a plate of fancy chocolate.

I will never get used to Christmas in 30C. It is just odd. 😁

Will get up early tomorrow and make a pavlova as I prefer to do it on the day. Lemon curd, cream, blueberries, mint and homemade strawberry ice cream to go with it.

Pardon my butting in, but do you have a midwinter festival in June? I’m in the UK and Christmas for me is about darkness, the winter solstice, lights, candles and everything that’s the opposite of summer. Do you mark that, at all?

@HoppityBun Yes, Christmas in July is a thing here. Not every one does it but my parents did it once about 40 years ago. We had twenty for dinner that night.

@Tradersinsnow I’m doing trifle (not that one), steamed syrup pudding with rhubarb, chocolate cake with bought meringue, pan forte, nutmeg slice and Christmas cake. Ice cream and custard for those who like it.

I love love trifle for breakfast on Boxing Day.

Thank you I’ve always wondered! Our summer solstice is around 22 June so that’s when I’d be thinking of it, though I didn’t realise you’d call it Christmas. Either way, Happy Christmas to you from the other side of the world xx

I still like a roast dinner, if we get hot I’ll just put the aircon on. It’s a beautiful day in Melbourne today, 21 degrees.

I’m preparing a Christmas Eve dinner tonight. First course prawn cocktails and seared scallops, then turkey, ham, vege sides (duck fat potatoes 🤤) then pudding and brandy custard etc. Cocktails to start then champagne and sparkling Shiraz.

We’re going out to lunch tomorrow, which will be followed by a grazing buffet, cold ham, salads, cheese etc

@HoppityBun I’ve had a few Christmas in July parties before where we put the tree up, wear Christmas sweaters and serve Christmas food.

No Christmas sweater today but I’m wearing sparkly reindeer earrings

We do Winter Christmas on 21st June.

Happy Christmas to you from a Lancashire Kiwi!🎄

As an atheist I thank the Good Lord I don't have to cook a turkey.

I still have flashbacks from 2016 when my baby was 6 months, it was 38 degrees and the turkey I'd ordered turned out to be 6.7kg instead of the 4kg I wanted. My now-Ex took it out to his shed to beat it flat so I could fit it in the oven.

The family turned up, house was a furnace, baby was sweating & screaming. Never again.

This year, I'm going to a friend's family for lunch. Apart from pressies for kiddo, all I've done is buy a bottle of Bailey's for the lunch Hosts and wrap some green/red ribbons around it.

Merry Xmas to all 😅

Gawd, that brings back memories. My first Christmas in my new house, I ordered a fresh turkey from the Italian butchers, collect on Christmas Eve.

It was frozen solid.

So it was into a bucket in the laundry overnight and hope the outside stayed fresh enough while the inside got defrosted. All well in the end, but, oh, that moment when Mum and I looked at each other …

Laughing my head off at the frozen turkey in a bucket!

Funny that you mention Italian butchers.... my friend ordered a 3kg leg of lamb for lunch tomorrow. He is Italian. Would've thought you need an elderly lamb to get a 3kg leg? Might be mutton territory!

I cooked turkey today! It'll be sliced and served as part of a cold buffet tomorrow along with glazed ham, salmon and prawns.

Tomorrow's warm enough to need aircon in Melbourne so we can get away with traditional Christmas pud and custard for dessert.

Yes, in New Zealand the mid-winter celebration is called Matariki, and it occurs around the end of June when the Matariki cluster of stars (known in the Northern Hemisphere as the Pleiades) rises above the eastern horizon. It’s a traditional Maori festival and we have a public holiday for it since two years ago.

Our Christmas day is predicted to be enjoyed in a temp of about 24 degrees - by no means really hot. Partner and I, and my niece/her partner will have driven around two hours from different directions. Lunch will be at about 1.30 pm and will include lamb, rolled stuffed turkey (only way to have it in my opinion), ham, a variety of salads and a delicious potato gratin made by my great nephew teen. Desserts will be pavlova, fresh fruit salad and a lemon tart. For dinner around 6.30 there will be a beautiful array of leftovers.

@Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice Your menu sounds fabulous. I do like a glazed ham! As for turkey- pls tell me you didn't do the full bird? I feel slack now!

Yes to air-con tomorrow. I'm in Sth Gippsland, usually less hot than Melb. Hope it all goes well! X

In Perth, for the first time in 40 odd years, aircon will not be needed.

Some people here hold a mid-winter Christmas (NZ), but it seemed to be more of a thing several years ago. You have to realise that while Christmas to you might be about darkness, the winter solstice etc. for us it's about sunshine and holidays. I actually think a winter Christmas would be miserable.

I see a pp has mentioned Matariki, and yes we do have that, but it's hardly the same.

@TheSandgroper Wow, just checked the BOM site- only 24 in Perth tomorrow. How nice and unusual?

Boxing Day in Vic looks nasty. Already a few bushfires in the north, our highway out of town was blocked. Fingers crossed for good weather X

I'm back in the UK for my first Christmas since 2006.
I thought I would love the cold and cosiness of a winter Christmas but I'm pining over a glass bubbles on the deck in the sunshine, decent seafood and will really miss my Christmas day swim (usually the only day of the year I go in the sea!)
I have made a pavolva for Xmas day dessert much to my mum's amusement!
Happy Christmas everyone!

That trifle looks amazing.

My grandma made the best trifle. One without alcohol for children and anyone driving and one with alcohol. My uncle adored the alcoholic trifle.

31 degrees predicted here.

My fridge smells of delicious summery Christmassy stone fruit. Nectarines, peaches and plums. No cherries though. Too expensive.

We’ll probably have a roast chicken for Christmas dinner. There’s also a small ham in the fridge.

Shops are now closed until Boxing Day. Too late if anything’s been forgotten unless a corner shop or a servo sells it!

@HoppityBun No midwinter festival in my area. Some people and restaurants might do a Christmas in July meal to try to capture of bit of a northern hemisphere cold Christmas vibe. It might actually be cold enough to wear an ugly Christmas sweater in July. Plenty of them left in my local Kmart. Guess they’ll be on clearance for only a few dollars on Boxing Day.

Nope. Some might do Christmas in July, but hardly anyone I know.

Well 2am here, had a full Christmas dinner and cocktails at a friend's place for our usual Christmas eve, got home, wrapped presents, now in bed, ready to get up and do the family rounds in a few hours.

Looking forward to my 2 x rounds of cold ham, prawns, turkey, token salads, pav, and a bit of drinks while remaining drivable (double demerits!!).