Expats Celebrating Christmas Day at Bronte Beach
I’m no stranger to a hot Christmas. In fact, last Christmas Dave and I spent the holidays in Koh Lanta, Thailand. This year, we’re in Sydney.
In Australia, the media shut down between mid-December and mid-January. So as a PR person, I too get a large break. Most of my colleagues left for London, Paris and even Singapore. So during the weeks prior to the holiday, I had very little to contribute to the conversation of “What are your holiday plans?” Despite not having exotic plans, being in Sydney was definitely different than the wintery cold Christmas’ we all know in the northern hemisphere.
On Christmas Eve, Dave and I were lucky enough to secure a new apartment in Potts Point. I had planned on focusing all my energy to apartment hunt for the break while my colleagues were off having adventures in other countries. The search thankfully ended prematurely and I was free to do whatever I wanted for the next few weeks!
The Orphans Gathered for Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve Casey and Luis, our American expat friends we had met through Meet Up, invited us to their house for festivities. These two had been in Sydney for a year completing their 1 year Masters in Cross-cultural Communications at University of Sydney. They had graduated in November and had their whole lives ahead of them not knowing exactly what they were doing, despite having a Masters degree and near 30! I’m a bit jealous of their lives in Sydney. They are in school with people from all over the world studying about different cultures, stressing about tests and partying so hard when finals finished – gosh I miss uni! I live vicariously through them because I miss that time in my life when I had graduated from Fordham with no job and no certainty. As you all know I ended up backpacking through South East Asia and teaching in South Korea for nearly 2 years and now I’m living in Sydney, Australia! Definitely didn’t plan that one!
Christmas Cracker Crowns
We had been to their house before and had met all their friends, so this Christmas Eve was not spent with a room full of strangers, but had a bit of familiarity. I brought Christmas crackers or ‘bon bons’ for everyone to pop. I had Luis try it first. He was so nervous holding his end thinking it was actually a firecracker. Despite his wincing, he liked it and everyone tried one too.
White Elephant Gift Exchange
How Did We End Up With the Hats?
After a few drinks and catch ups, we proceeded with a white elephant gift exchange. To play, everyone had to bring a wrapped gift under $10 – the silliest the better (Dave brought a stress ball in the shape of a boob and a wine opener and I brought a kangaroo coin purse, Australia flag tattoos and a 3D kangaroo puzzle). We each pulled a number out of a hat. The first person goes and picks a gift and unwraps it. The second person goes up and picks up a gift and unwraps it. The second person has the opportunity to keep the present or trade with the first person. The third person goes up, unwraps a present and then has the opportunity of keeping the present or trading with person 1 or 2. This went on for 12 people. I started with a salt and pepper shaker and ended up with a pirate hat! Dave started with an Australian flag umbrella hat and ended up with it too! With a party full of foreigners, I guess no one wanted to sport the Australian flag.
A 'Shave' Christmas
On Christmas Day, Dave and I began with a large breakfast of crumpets, eggs and bacon because for the rest of the day, we were going to be at Bronte Beach with slim possibilities of getting remotely close to the grills.
Our apartment on Victoria Street was a shoebox. We had no room for a Christmas tree, so we supplemented with dollar store bought stockings hanging from our closet door. For weeks, we concealed our presents and now we were finally opening them up! For our entire relationship, Dave has been awesome at gift-giving – always thoughtful and practical. This Christmas, we kept the budget to $100 each because we knew the new apartment would deplete our wallets. He got me my favourite perfume Michael by Michael Kors, a yoga mat, a riddle book and Lindt chocolate – all things I love! Since Dave is such an active guy, I got him a volleyball, a ball pump, new bathing suit and an assortment of Willy Wonka brand sour candies – his favourite junk food.
Passed Out Baking on Christmas Day at Bronte Beach
After unwrapping presents, we took a 25 minute bus ride to Bronte Beach and parked ourselves on sarongs all day. We would get up only to dip our feet in the very cold Pacific Ocean, stroll on the beach and watch the seagulls sipping water from the stream that ran down from the city to the ocean water. Every beach around Sydney was packed with sunbathers and Santa hats – a site uncommon to us Northern hemisphere folk!
Reppin' Aussie Pride on Christmas Day
The New Look of Stick Figure Art
Don't Drink at the Beach!
Don't Drink at the Beach!
Enjoying Christmas Bronte Beach
With everything closed that day, Dave and I relived the film A Christmas Story by having dinner of Chinese food in Chinatown and it was delicious! Each bite of my sesame tofu reminded me that this Christmas although unconventional was special in its own right. We were lucky enough to be with friends, eating a warm meal and enjoying a city so amazing that celebrated Christmas too! We really missed our families back home and in Korea, but we weren’t alone this year – we had our family in Sydney.
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