Holiday fun!

[emmzee]

Well, I posted the link cuz I figured you didn't have it anymore

Eh it's nearly Christmas ... I'll just leave Santa Mario (I fear that I may be one of those annoying people, if I ever own a house, who is too lazy to take down their Christmas lights and just leaves them up all year like a <strike>loser</strike> <b><i>sexy Aussie</i></b>.)

[GAMER]

*cough* my house has christmas lights still...

GAMER

[emmzee]

There, fixed.

[Dogbreath]

*cough* my house has christmas lights still...

GAMER

Christmas lights sure must look funny in hot summer weather.

Maybe you guys should celebrate in June instead of December?

[GAMER]

Why would they look funny in hot summer weather?
It's still dark?

We do this thing called "Christmas in July". Well, i don't... but there is something called that...

Intense googling has revealed that people celebrate a weird pretend Christmas in July all over the world. I've never actually seen it done. Have you?

GAMER

[Dogbreath]

No snow. Crickets. Humidity.

I dunno, I always associate christmas lights with snow and silence and cold wind and hot chocolate. Not steamy summer nights. Doesn't have the same magic.

Never celebrated Christmas in July myself.

[CPT Worm]

Why would they look funny in hot summer weather?
It's still dark?

We do this thing called "Christmas in July". Well, i don't... but there is something called that...

Intense googling has revealed that people celebrate a weird pretend Christmas in July all over the world. I've never actually seen it done. Have you?

GAMER

Christmas in July typically are sales by local department stores and car dealerships to get people to spend during the lull between Mothers'/Fathers' Days and ...well, Christmas.

Although, it's not celebrated like Christmas. But, the Fourth of July is pretty awesome here. Burgers, beer, and pyrotechnics! It's sorta like Christmas...for men.

[GAMER]

Fourth of July sounds like heaps of fun.

I like lights in summer. You can actually enjoy them that way. You can have Christmas parties outside under the lights and you can see them and stuff. And when i was a kid, we used to go out and see all the lights. It would be too cold to walk around the neighbourhood looking at lights if it was snowing?

I'd really like to have a winter Christmas once though. I do like summer Christmas in theory more than winter. It means that on Christmas day you can do things with your family or friends that is not just inside the house. You can have a meal on the beach and play some cricket or footy. And don't get me started on the wonder of Boxing Day in summer. Last year i went to the Boxing Day races. It's the biggest racing day of the year (apart from maybe Melbourne Cup... but EVERYONE goes to Boxing Day races). Everyone gets all dressed up and it's a really nice big social day. You couldn't have something like that if it was cold.

What do other parts of the world do for Boxing Day? (And why is it called Boxing Day? Is there religious significance?)

GAMER

edit: BAHAHA. Just noticed the 'sexy aussie' replacement. Nice.

[CPT Worm]

Topic split!

Fourth of July sounds like heaps of fun.

It is! Whenever you visit North America, you'll have to get stateside for the 4th!

I like lights in summer. You can actually enjoy them that way. You can have Christmas parties outside under the lights and you can see them and stuff. And when i was a kid, we used to go out and see all the lights. It would be too cold to walk around the neighbourhood looking at lights if it was snowing?

Well, we always used to get in the car and drive around at night and see them all. I guess, you could bundle up and go sing carols!

What do other parts of the world do for Boxing Day? (And why is it called Boxing Day? Is there religious significance?)

Boxing Day was celebrated by the lower classes back in the day, so they could work on Christmas Day. However, it's back to work for us Americans.

[Dogbreath]

Fourth of July sounds like heaps of fun.

I like lights in summer. You can actually enjoy them that way. You can have Christmas parties outside under the lights and you can see them and stuff. And when i was a kid, we used to go out and see all the lights. It would be too cold to walk around the neighbourhood looking at lights if it was snowing?

Nope! Just bundle up and walk around the neighborhood. You can sing carols at peoples door and hope they give you hot chocolate/food too. I have some pretty fond caroling memories.

What do other parts of the world do for Boxing Day? (And why is it called Boxing Day? Is there religious significance?)

I think it has to do with giving boxes of leftover food to poor people so they can have a Christmas dinner too. Thus boxing.

My family celebrates Christmas on the 24th (for cultural reasons), so we sort of have our own boxing day on the 25th - which involves sleeping in very late, eating Cornish Hens at some point, and generally being lazy. Sadly, here in the U.S. most places don't give the 26th off so boxing day isn't widely celebrated.

The thing is, we have plenty of spring and summer holidays here to do all the fun stuff you mention, but do you Aussies have any good winter holidays?

[dosraider]

It would be too cold to walk around the neighbourhood looking at lights if it was snowing?

[GAMER]

What is 'stateside'?

We don't do carols here. I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing.

Yeah, we don't have any fun winter holidays that i can think of. My birthday is in winter though? And it's winter apparently still now but i have been wearing shorts and skirts and singlets for the past month or so. It's really warm and pleasant.

It was 38'C where my boyfriend lives the other day. That's almost unbearably warm.

GAMER

[CPT Worm]

What is 'stateside'?

Well, if you decide to visit North America, you could go to Canada or the United States (or Mexico). If you're in the other two countries in the beginning of July, you might want to come stateside (to the other side of the border) and celebrate the 4th of July.

tl;dr: stateside is slang for the US.

We don't do carols here. I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing.

Well, it's kinda hard when a lot of them are based on winter.

It was 38'C where my boyfriend lives the other day. That's almost unbearably warm.

Oh man, it's only been around 30º here, maybe 32º on a hot day.

But I don't like summer that much anyway. I'm looking forward to the nice 22º days this weekend. Woohoo!!

[dosraider]

And it's winter apparently still now but i have been wearing shorts and skirts and singlets for the past month or so.

No wonder you kangaroos are complete nutca......s ....e.......


..... Never mind.

[Dogbreath]

What is 'stateside'?

We don't do carols here. I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing.

Yeah, we don't have any fun winter holidays that i can think of. My birthday is in winter though? And it's winter apparently still now but i have been wearing shorts and skirts and singlets for the past month or so. It's really warm and pleasant.

It was 38'C where my boyfriend lives the other day. That's almost unbearably warm.

GAMER

Your winters are warmer than our summers. That's just insane.

You ought to come here in the middle of January. Or better yet, visit Canada. Do you even own a heavy duty coat? Have you ever seen snow before?

[GAMER]

It snows in the ACT, i've been skii-ing and stuff before.

I don't own a real coat though, no.

Our winters aren't usually this warm. It's been abnormal. Global warming and such, no?

Australia is really pretty strange climatically. There's a whole host of different climatic areas that are comparitively close to one another. From Brisbane up the weather is generally very warm and humid, but Tasmania has snow, as does the ACT. I live in the Hunter Valley in NSW... I'm not sure if it actually made the news in other countries, but we were declared a natural disaster zone 2 years ago because of a huge storm that caused major flooding and stuff. The middle of Australia is all desert and really hot and dry during the day and freezing at night. Strange place.

GAMER