The Australian Christmas Tree

We had a great pre-Christmas Sacrament meeting today.  The main speaker was Elder Cherrington.  He talked about Christmas in Japan with his family where, because of his lack of understanding about international power incompatabilities, their US bought Christmas lights burned out in minutes.  So they celebrated Christmas without Christmas lights.  But it was OK.  The Spirit of Christmas was with them; they celebrated the Birth of Christ with their family.  Lack of lights did not dim their special Christmas.

This past week I was asked to talk about “Christmas in Australia”, to Mrs Theobald’s 2^nd Grade class in Nibley.  She wanted the children to learn about different Christmas traditions around the world.  I enjoyed reminiscing about Christmases past in Australia.  The big difference about Christmas in Australia of course, is that it is summer in Australia right now, and all the children are on their summer break from school.  And because it is summer, it is hot, sometimes really hot.  I remember having Christmas one year on the Conning farm, in Katanning, WA, when it was 112 degrees.  And because it is hot, the beach plays a huge role in Australian Christmases.  People have Christmas dinner, then go to the beach.  Or they might have a barbie on the beach.

I did a little on-line research and noticed that the OZ culture has changed in the past 46 years.  For example, when I was a child “Santa Claus” was pretty much an unknown entity…”Father Christmas” was our main man.  He is the same jolly old fellow as we know and love in the USA, but there are still differences.  In Australia Santa now uses “boomers” (big kangaroos) to pull his sleigh, and sometimes he doesn’t even use a sleigh…he arrives by boat…on the beach.

There were no traditional live Christmas trees available when I was a child…and no artificial trees, so we got creative.  The Knowles family always decorated a banksia tree, which I loved.  That was a real  Christmas tree to me.  One of my fondest memories was a Chrsitmas tree which I made; it was a dead branch which I painted white, then decorated with tinsel and paper decorations .  I loved that “tree”.

So as I searched on-line for photos of Christmas in Australia, I found one which really touched my heart.  It is wonderful; a little girl, on the beach, admiring her Christmas tree, which is made of dead sticks, decorated with a single ribbon…and a STAR.  That simple star tells a powerful story…of Joseph and Mary, Wise-Men from afar, Shepherds in their fields by night, Choirs of Angels…and the baby Jesus, born in a manger…yet King of Kings.