count down

It's that time of year again. Christmas is in the air. The scent of bushfire smoke and frangipani, the sound of myna birds cackling, the dry summer heat.... What? That doesn't sound like Christmas to you? No kidding.

It still seems foreign to me to be listening to Christmas music in the summertime, or attending holiday parties sleeveless, or even buying cherries in season 2 weeks before Christmas, for that matter. But that is one of the facts of life in the southern hemisphere. I'm not sure I could ever get used to it.

For me, Christmas will always be freezing cold, with a fresh blanket of snow muffling the sound of carolers. Wet mittens and warm cocoa and stomping off your feet when you come in from the cold. It's candy canes and icicles and twinkle lights in every window. It's dressing up and helping in the jewellery store on Christmas Eve, eating cookies and listening to Papa's jokes. It's the inevitable nap after the equally inevitable Griswold Family re-runs.

And so, we have gladly begun the count down. In 12 days we will be heading "home" for Christmas. Back to the Great White North full of all things white and cold and Christmassy. Bring on the sweaters!