A Green Christmas in Australia
I never imagined that I would spend my Christmas soaking up the sun and watching Santa surf into the distance
We’re going to travel back in time to Christmas of 2013. At this time, I was 10 years old living in Denmark, and had never experienced a Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere. I didn’t know what to expect, but every Christmas I had ever had consisted of cold weather and long cozy PJs.
Waking up on Christmas morning felt like a breath of fresh air. Not cold, crisp air, but rather warm, summer air — a faint scent of ocean water danced around me. I ran downstairs to see mounds of gifts scattered around our family friend’s living room. Between my family and theirs, we had a grand total of five kids, all eagerly waiting to dive into our piles. I remember my favorite present that year was a hot pink DS (from Santa, of course!), but no gift could ever compare to the experience of spending Christmas in Australia.
After we opened the rest of our gifts and ate breakfast, it was time to go to the beach. Feeling the hot sand against my skin and the warm sun shining down on me, I knew this wasn’t going to be a typical Christmas. As someone who has always enjoyed the warmer months, I was very happy to swap snow for sun, long PJs for swimsuits, and hot chocolate for ice cream.
Down on the beach, I spent my time soaking up the sun, splashing around in the water, finding seashells, and building sculptures with the sand. I think I might have enjoyed exploring the beach more than I did opening gifts, which says a lot!
We took an intermission from the beach to have an afternoon feast, complete with any type of seafood imaginable. Shrimp, crab, lobster, oysters, muscles, everything! It was nothing like the Christmas dinner I was used to, but I still dream of that meal to this day.
We kids took some time to try out all of our new gifts while our parents enjoyed the peace and quiet to relax, but everyone was eager to get back to the beach to watch the sunset. When we arrived, we discovered that it is an Australian tradition to surf during sunset on Christmas. The waves were filled with people, it was a beautiful sight.
Suddenly, someone nearby shouted, “Look! It’s Santa!”
Off in the distance was Santa himself riding the waves into the sunset. Since then, I’ve always believed that Santa ends each busy Christmas day by surfing in Australia.
