The whole picture really starts with the children finishing school for Christmas and their 6 week summer holidays. Next due to it being summer and over the Christmas -New Year period, we have 4 days stat holidays and most businesses apart from Retail shut down for at least 2 weeks. This is the time to take the 3- 4-week Annual holidays.
Now add to that mix, that a lot of families head off either Christmas Eve or Boxing Day to their favourite bach, or camping spot. It doesn't tend to make for a hot turkey, cranberry sauce, Ham, plum pud., eggnog, sitting around the fire, singing carols, kind of Christmas. Believe it or not, for lots of New Zealanders that actually happens, well apart from sitting around the fire, bit, but maybe a BBQ could fit into that category.
More often it is a mixture of the traditional and a real kiwi flavour. This kiwi flavour would include the turkey and ham, but it would be cold, maybe even cooked on the BBQ, served with untold salads, Paua, scallops, pipi's, oysters, would be often on the menu too. Plum pud, would be replaced with fruit salad and Pavlova, (and we created it first- not Aust.) All washed down with one of our very nice New Zealand wines or a cold beer.
Now location for this feast is often the family home or Bach, but equally it could be at the camping site or beach or river. One of my most favourite Christmas's was when a friend and myself and family meet at a beautiful, isolated beach. We spent the day lazing in the sun, eating cold cuts and salads, having the odd drink and lots and lots of swimming. The children. Christened their body boards, fishing rods, snorkel and flippers and got totally worn out. It was so beautiful and isolated, that even a little skinny-dipping was included.
Another cool Christmas we had was when we went camping/batching on
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