Tell me about your overseas Christmas

[Titsandteeth]

I'll start . . .

I'm in South Australia, we will be at a rented beach house with in-laws and bil + sil + kids. Weather is forecast to be 30 degrees which is splendid as at the moment we are enjoying storms and 15 degrees max (this not good for summer).

We will eat Crayfish, prawns, oysters (yuck), ham and turkey (cold) with salads. Ice creams and sweeties for dessert.

We'll probably spend a bit of time on the beach and then have an almighty family row to finish the day off nicely.

What will you be doing?

We are in Melbourne.

Not sure what the weather will be like but we will be having a hot lunch. As it will be only me Dh, DD, DS1 and baby DS2 I'm not going over board with the food.

Roast beef, chicken, veg, yorkshire puds etc for lunch. The maybe bbq or ham and salad for dinner. I am planning on making a giant kick arse pavlova with loads of strawberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries cream and grated choc... Mmmm! Yes I have put much more thought into the pudding!!

We are getting the kids a bike each so we will probably spend the afternoon running up and down the street helping them to pedal!

My family are all in SA and I grew up there - where will you be staying? Sounds like you will be having a great day!!

Sounds lovely esselle, particularly the dessert.

We will be in Port Eliot for the day, at BIL and SILs beach house. I'm really looking forward to it as I love Christmas and this is the first year we've all been together as BIL has just returned after 15 yrs in London.

We are in Sydney.

Not sure what the weather will be like here either! We have our "expat family" coming for lunch so there will be six grown ups and three little ones in all.

Bouillabaisse to start followed by traditional turkey, ham and roast veggies. Then like esselle there will be a giant kick arse pavlova!

Ds is getting a bike too so I reckon there will be lots of skint knees by the end of the day.

The plan is to finish the day with the kids in bed, grown ups outside with a sparkling shiraz to watch the sunset over the bush. Oh and Skype chats with the folks back home .

Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm in Hong Kong and the weather is pretty cold so we'll be having a proper Christmas lunch at home(turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes etc) and then Christmas pudding and cheese. As we only have a tiny oven I'm getting one of the hotels to deliver most of it ready cooked at 1pm so I've just got to do roast potatoes and veg.

We'll do presents in the morning and probably a walk in the afternoon.

Have family from the UK over visiting us and our new son who is 3 months old. Really praying HTR reopens so they get here.

In Dubai
Only difference to England will be a trip to the beach instead of the pub (and about 25 degrees)

We are in Canada and not totally sure what we will be doing as yet. The weather will be fairly similar to the UK right now - in fact my family currently have more snow than me! The last couple of years we have been to friends for Christmas but this year we have our nephew to entertain. I expect that we will have a roast (I'm thinking rib of beef) spend a fair bit of time talking to my family in the UK, play new Wii games and then watch Toy Story 3. We're having a party on Boxing Day, so that should be fun, and then we have skiing lessons for our family Christmas present.

Port Kennedy 45 km south of Perth, Australia. After opening of presents then off to the beach for breakfast.
salad lunch/cold food to eat all day. will spendin garden or just over road in the park.
weather will be around 30-33 and sunny:-)

Titsandteeth We have been invited to a wedding in Pt Elliot in Feb. Don't think we will be able to go though - just thinking about the logistics of getting us there gives me a headache!

We are in Wellington NZ. Its currently hot but very wet and windy but hoping that the weather improves by next weekend.
We are having roast lamb on christmas day with roast veg and pavlova for afters. If the weathers good we will probably go for a walk on the beach and a paddle.
Dds are getting a trampoline for xmas so we will probably spend most of the day putting it up inbetween speaking to relatives in the uk on skype.
On boxing day we are going for a barbecue with lots of other expats which should be good!

xmas tree made of gold sprayed piled coconuts
barbecued lobster
barefoot in the sanda

I will be spending Christmas Day on a plane!

By Christmas traditionally at my parents is prawns, crab, cold roast chicken, salads, cold ham and then cold plum pudding.
Lots of champagne.

Then the annual argument.

Slim that tree sounds ace.

Esselle shame you won't get to your wedding. Can you and dh go and palm the kids off to someone else for a weekend? Pt Elliot is v nice. Particularly the Chippy at Horseshoe Bay.

mmmmmmmmmm Sparkling Shiraz. Top idea VFemme.

I am in Budapest and it is cold and snowy. But at least the place works so life will carry on.

We are having traditional turkey, ham and all the trimmings. Turkey being delivered cooked at 1pm as oven is not that big. Doing all the other bits ourselves though.

First Xmas just DH, DS and me. Usually go home to Dublin. DS is SO excited about staying home. Planning a relaxing day with nobody to please but us!

Sparkling shiraz sounds great. Haven't had that for ages.

We are in Sydney, and it's just me, DH and DS for the first time ever. We will probably go to the beach at some point, and then have a roast dinner (although I'm a bit limited with what I can eat as I'm 33 weeks pregnant and have gestational diabetes, so no alcohol or nice sweet things for me!) We have lots of skype planned for the evening!

Titsandteeth No one to palm the kids off to here and all of my family are going to be at the wedding. Plus the kids are only 6y, 3y & 9mo (and I'm still feeding baby).

Oh yeah and the 9hr drive each way makes me want to cry.....

Will have to miss it but will def venture over that way in the future. I love Victor Harbour and can't wait to get back there.

We are in Nairobi, we will be at home with the in-laws who also live here. It's the first time in some 12 years we shall be in a house we own ourselves! Weather will be about 28 degrees and lovely sunshine!

We will do a roast beef and trimmings. The dc will spend the whole day running around outside, we shall quietly down several bottles of expensive rubbishy fizz.

On Boxing Day we shall go and spend a day walking with camels in the mega heat and dusty thornland.

I still miss my family though.....

Hmmm..... oystershoots for breakfast;crayfish, giant prawns, oysters, Otway ham, salad spuds, salady bits. Christmas pud and/or cherry and mango granita for afters.

It would be nice to do the mains on the beach and pudding at home as we're only two minutes away, but the weather is unreliable at the moment.

Skype.

DVDs, as Aussie tv is even more shite than usual over Christmas.

Possible healthy post-prandial walk.

We're in Sydney too. There will be 13 of us for lunch as we're joined by a couple of other expat families. Coquille St. Jacques for entree (DH) followed by turkey with all the trimmings (me) with a cheeseboard (family 1) and traditional Christmas pud or pavlova (family 2) for dessert so we have a bit of a feast and nobody feels hard done by.

For the first time in four years I would love a nice sunny day so the kids can hang out in the pool, but the forecast is for rain. DH got a case of Moet on special at the weekend as the strong dollar makes for cheap imports at the moment so it's looking like a very happy Christmas.

VFemme - I have lived in Hornsby Westfield for the past two weeks; I really can't believe we haven't managed to meet up yet. Shall we make it a New Year's resolution?

. Any spaces at your christmas table esselle???

lulalullabye There is always a place at my table for you! You just need to get your arse back here!! Maybe we can all get together next Christmas!

I was talking about you yesterday to wilbs and wondering what your plans were.

echt, what are Oystershoots?

Aussie TV is super shite you're quite correct.

Did you mean oyster shots echt? Now that's what I call the start of a meal! here

sunnydelight yes we must must meet up soon. I'm on hols from work between Christmas and New Year so let's schedule in a coffee somewhere!

I've just finished ordering the Christmas flowers for rellies back home. Thank GAWD for Interflora!

Good luck to eralc for the next couple of months. I hope the temperature stays moderate for you!

I'm intrigued by "walking with camels". We'll probably walk with some galahs. Does that count?

Aussie TV is pathetic at the moment.

The schedulers seem to be under the impression we only want to watch The Simpsons, Two and a Half Men or cricket...

We're in Sydney.
Christmas day will be me, DH, 6week old DS and the PIL.

We're hoping the weather stays fine as I've planned a bbq with lots of steak and seafood and a pavlova for after. Will possibly follow all that with a nice long walk. Lots of Skyping the family back home planned for the evening.

Eralc hope the rest of your pg goes smoothly and you don't suffer too much in the heat