By Monré Meyer

This will be our third Christmas in Australia and we celebrate it in a similar way as in South Africa.

We live in Melbourne, and it is beginning to feel like Christmas in the city. Christmas decorations are being put up everywhere in the city. My office has a view over the Yarra River that runs through the city and the pedestrian bridge is already decorated for Christmas. The Salvation Army volunteers will soon start playing Christmas carols in the streets. The department store Myer has a Christmas window display and people are queueing to see it.

Our first Christmas outside South Africa was in 2012 and we celebrated it in the heart of Australia at Uluru. We went on a tour through the Outback and my brother still complains about the leg of lamb that had to travel with us for hundreds of kilometres. We also put up a Christmas tree for the children wherever we go, even if my wife must take it with her as hand luggage. 

Last year we also celebrated Christmas away from the city, this time in Euchuca with a South African friend.

On Christmas Eve we hand out some of the presents and then Christmas Father’s presents on Christmas morning. A good thing our children realised while abroad, is that Christmas Father knows exactly where to deliver presents even if they are far from home.

It is now easier to tune in for an Afrikaans Christmas service and we will also do video calls with the family, wherever they may be.

It is uncomfortably warm during December in Australia, so we prefer a late afternoon/early evening Christmas meal. I already have a leg of lamb waiting in the fridge, which will be prepared with too much gravy, rice and potatoes. We will finish it off with good old trifle.

We also emigrated from South Africa for the same reasons other people do. I remind the children that they are not any less Afrikaans just because they live outside South Africa. Being an Afrikaner is in one’s heart. Christmas is literally the only time of the year that I would rather be in South Africa, close to family and friends.

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