What I Miss at Christmas

I have been here in New Zealand for the past 13 odd years, would I ever leave, depends where we are going, but would I move back to England...never!!

Even if it has taken me all this time to get use to having Christmas in the sun, I still miss loads to do with Christmas.
As much as we celebrate everything here, it definitely has a different feel to it.
I love the warmth of the sun but miss the warm snuggled houses with the fires roaring and everyone wearing their latest christmas inspire sweater!
I love the fact that people do decorate their houses with lights etc but hate that you have to go out at 10pm to be able to view them in their full shinnest gleam.
I miss the lights glowing in all the shop windows as you race round town late one evening for the last few gifts you desperately need or desire.
I miss the whole atmosphere that takes over in the whole month of December as you count down to Christmas with the lights, the music, the cold nights and the food. Here December wanders in and suddenly you are more concerned with the fact that the school year is closing, what are you doing with the kids over the summer break, are we going to have sunshine whilst we camp at Christmas and has summer actually started or not!
There never seems to be any real lead up to Christmas, just suddenly one day you remember and then think Holy s%#t, we only have xyz weeks to go and I have got nothing done!

I also, ultimately, miss Christmas carols.
Yes I can play a CD at home but it just does not have the same effect as standing in the cold listening to a beautiful choir fill the air with the round crisp tones of a full choir.
I miss hearing a soloist sing "Once in Royal David's City" and then the effect when the full choir comes in with verse 2.
I miss going to a carol concert leading up to Christmas, where everyone is in a jolly mood, happy to see everyone, enjoying the atmosphere and the music and munching on their christmas faire of cake and mince pies (although I will never miss either of those as I can't stand dried fruit, although never fear, we may be in full sun shine on Christmas Day but people do still insist on Christmas pudding, brandy cream / custard, Christmas cake and mince pies)

I also miss snowmen, seems a silly thing to miss but I have found that all decorations here have Santa on them, nothing seems to be snowmen orientated.
Mainly I think because we don't have snow!
So nowadays if I see something with snowmen on it and it is cute, then I snap it up really quick.

Overal, I do love Christmas here, it is very different to a winter Christmas but definitely something I would recommend everyone tries.

Merry Chrsitmas

Not as They Seem

I have been over here in NZ for just over 10 years now.

There isn't really anything I miss from England apart from some nice food items.


Jaffa Cakes:

These are small round biscuit like cakes with a round orange jam slice on the top, topped with chocolate. They are devine and unfortunately the small pack of 12 you can buy just seems to dissappear way too quick for anyones liking.

There has even been debate throughout England at one stage as to whether this was in fact a biscuit or a cake, apparently it came down to how much tax McVities was prepared to pay on them. You apparently pay more tax on biscuits than you do cake in England.


Finger of Fudge:

This is a small finger of fudge covered in chocolate made by Cadbury's UK.
It is a small confectionary item and sells for about 15p (about 75c to a $1 NZ)

They again are devine and just big enough for a treat, well that is what the advertising campaign said all those years ago!

Alpen Cereal:

Alpen is a muesli cereal with hazlenuts and sultanas, made by the company Weetabix, same people who make Weetabix and Cocopops etc in UK

I am not a dried fruit person but this cereal is lovely and so easy to pick out the fruit part (I know fussy people!)



Now these 3 items are things that you can not get here in NZ freely, as in they are not in the supermarkets.
They are however imported by some people who have set up British Food Shops within New Zealand.
There is one such shop in Auckland, just round the corner from where we use to live.
We have frequented this shop occassionally and in fact I visited it on my way home from the funeral last week.

Now as usual what your memory remembers and what you think things where like are usually different and this time it is not different.
Jaffa Cakes and Fudges will never change, there is nothing they can do to them to ruin them in anyway shape or form.

Alpen on the other hand, well, I am sure if I had been eating it often over the last 10 years I wouldn't have noticed the difference, but having just eaten some for the first time in about 6 years or so, I definitely noticed a difference and I will not be rushing out to purchase another over priced box of imported cereal.

It just doesn't taste the same as I remember it!