It is that time again! I can’t believe that we are already at the end of the year. It feels like I just packed away last year’s Christmas tree and stored the Christmas decorations in the box…

This year we will be in New Zealand for 14 years and I remember that we have made a fire on Christmas Day before because of the cold, but luckily it is the exception! This time of the year it is also summer here, but definitely not as hot as in sunny SA!

The Kiwis celebrate Christmas somewhat different from what we were used to in South Africa. They are normally home for Christmas Day, where we are normally on holiday elsewhere. If you are lucky, it is at the seaside. When Kiwis go on holiday over Christmas, it is normally only from the 26^th (Boxing Day) over new year up to February when the schools start again. Because the schools only open in February, and it is only really summer in January, they prefer to do it in this way.

Gifts are normally not opened on Christmas Eve, but on Christmas Day itself. The Christmas meal is traditional, as it is in many South African homes. Ham and turkeys are for sale in all the shops, as is Pavlova. Pavlova is a true Kiwiana dish and the most households will serve it as a dessert. Many of the Kiwi families also like to braai on the day (on gas braais) and seafood is always on the menu here where we live at the coast. Strawberries are also in season now – they grow as big as tennis balls! – and are usually also on the menu, alongside kiwi fruits.

In schools, Christmas is not necessarily celebrated as a religious festival and in some nursery schools it is not celebrated at all. In New Zealand we follow the child’s interest: When a child therefore does not talk about Christmas, it will not necessarily enjoy any focus. Fortunately, everywhere I have taught thus far, the children have talked about Father Christmas and Christmas, therefore we could put up lights and Christmas decorations to our hearts’ content! We also buy a small gift for each child and we invite the parents and families to share in the joy when Father Christmas hands out the gifts! Children are all the same, no matter where in the world they find themselves; Christmas remains magical, no matter where you live and how old you are.

All the towns, however small, have a Christmas float parade each year. The schools and other institutions take part by each entering a truck, bakkie or trailer and decorating it for the parade. The fire brigade, ‘Father Christmas’, old vehicles, all the floats, orchestras and so forth then parade down the main street and the entire town usually attends. In some towns the Christmas Story is depicted and traditional Christmas carols are sung by candlelight in the beautiful town parks.

For many families it is tradition to go to a farm on 1 December as a family, where a “real” Christmas tree is chosen to decorate their houses for the holidays.

Here in our house we use a purchased artificial tree. Before the children left the house, they and I used to always decorate it together. We usually did this the first weekend of December. Nowadays I wait until they visit in December, then we still do it together and have a lot of fun with it! One of the indigenous trees is the Pohutukawa tree, which grows in sand and has roots that flourish in sea water. These trees are called ‘Christmas trees’ in New Zealand, because the pretty red flowers are in full bloom in the festive season. I like to use the Pohutukawa flowers in my Christmas tree decorations, along with shells we picked up on the beach.

When our children were young, we always read the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas Eve before my husband Tobie handed out the gifts.

Most of our family lives far away and Christmas is usually the time when family from South Africa would visit us. This year my parents from Pretoria will be here and my two children will be home. My brother and his family – who lives in Otorohanga, New Zealand – will also be visiting for the week between Christmas and New Year. Therefore Christmas 2018 will be a nice big family festival, with Christmas beds and all the things that are so familiar for us as South Africans.

On Christmas Day Tobie likes to braai boerewors, steak or chops and the other women and I make salad as a side dish. Yes, here in New Zealand we still love to eat boerewors! (Our local butcher, a Maori from Kaitaia, learnt how to make boerewors from a South African and I reckon his boerewors will not take a backseat to any SA boerewors!) Braai is still one of my husband Tobie’s favourite pastimes and I know that he will be surprising the family again with all the meals he can conjure on the braai grid.

Because we are so privileged to live at the coast, we also like to go to the beach if the weather permits. To my husband’s chagrin I also love to play Michael Bublé’s Christmas CD on Christmas Day! My brother Gerhard’s daughters are still young and most of the gifts under the tree will be for the two of them.

Mere Kirihimete! Geseënde Kersfees! Merry Christmas from New Zealand.

Also read: Out and About with Charlé Klopper