Christmas in New Zealand...

...is a very strange affair.

First of all, you don't get constantly bombarded by the same ten christmas tracks for months on end every time you enter a shop. The decorations are minimal... except for the big Santa Clause & reindeers on Queens Street. And it's hot. It's really hot.

Christmas decorations in Auckland

So all of these factors combined makes you easily forget that it's even Christmas time at all! So I decided to decorate the hostel to help us remember that it was, in fact, Christmas. I probably went a bit OTT with the tacky tinsil, but it made me feel happy :) 

Some people found that it made them think about Christmas more, and therefore made them sad that they weren't with their family. I didn't have these pangs of homesickness, and it took me ages to realise why - then I realised. Although I was missing my family, I already had one very important family member here in New Zealand: my dad. This reeeeally took the edge off the desire to be home. Don't get me wrong - when Christmas day came, I was really missing the rest of my family, but the knowledge that dad was just 2 hours away (I had to work Christmas day / boxing day) meant that I wasn't moping around feeling sorry for myself...

The people at Oaklands Lodge all acted like a surrogate family anyway - some of our long-term guests cooked a huge roast dinner on Christmas eve, then when we were too stuffed to move, we watched Christmas TV. 

Christmas eve feast

No matter where you are in the world, unfortunately you simply cannot escape 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' at Christmas time...

You cannot escape Hugh Grant's floppy hair

On Christmas day, we woke up, opened presents, and had a fantastic Christmas morning breakfast complete with bucks fizz. Awesome.
 

Christmas morning breakfast

Some of us bought some ugly sweaters as a fancy dress theme to wear on Christmas day morning too, so although it was hot, we donned them with pride.

  

 Oaklanders on 'de porch'

Then we all headed over to Bamber House (our sister hostel) for a fun day of BBQ and games!!

Playing games in the garden and drinking Pimms & lemonade in the sunshine.. how can this be Christmas??

All in all, it was a very fun (if bizarre?) Christmas. As I'm hoping to be in Australia for the next one, I'd better get used to this hot Christmas malarky! Although I have to say... it will never ever feel quite right.