A Christmas message to our family and friends

We are having breakfast on a sunny Sunday morning. Mine is Vegemite on toast (an Aussie favourite) whilst Alex is sticking with his St Dalfour black cherry jam. If what you have for breakfast gives you a clue as to what sort of person you are, well that's just got to be it!

Our new little Christmas tree is sitting proudly in our sitting room. It's about 11.30am and it's gorgeously sunny outside. The trees are dappled with mid morning sunlight and the only sound to be heard is our refrigerator's hum. Alex is reading the 'Travel' section of The Australian - his new favourite newspaper after giving The Melbourne Age (our local broadsheet) the thumbs down for being too parochial. Why he's reading 'Travel' I do not know as the only travel we can afford at the moment is to our mailbox and back.

This is a typical morning for us. Alex is already up and about, having showered, dressed and on the computer 'facebooking' friends. Meanwhile I am still in my pyjamas, unshowered and hair resembling Dame Edna Everidge's before a much needed coiffure, though thankfully not blue rinsed.. yet.

We are both astonished that we've been here 3 months almost exactly. That's a quarter of a year, a whole season in fact! Where did the time go. We are equally astonished that Christmas is just 20 days away and yet there isn't a frosty snowman to be seen. The only thing we keep frosted these days are the ice cubes from our freezer's automatic ice cube dispenser - a must in Australia.

Our plans for Christmas are quite simple. Christmas Eve Eve (that's the 23rd) will be spent at a big Christmas Carol concert rehearsal somewhere in town; the main event being too crowded for any real enjoyment. My brother Jonathan arrives that night as well from Adelaide. It's been a quarter of a century (yikes!) since we spent a Christmas together so long overdue. He'll stay with us for a few days after making an 11 hour drive from Adelaide to be here in his little motor that's already clocked up 250,000 kilometres! If it makes this trip here and back, that car will deserve a medal.

We then spend Christmas Eve with my friend Nicky, her 4 year old son James (who is tall enough to pass as a 6 year old) and her mum Leslie. There will be another of Nicky's friends there with her three young boys so it will be a hectic day I'm sure. We are in charge of desserts and Alex is tasked with trifle. I've bought a Christmas cake (couldn't face baking in 30 degree heat), and I'll make some rum balls for after afters - you know, that time on Christmas Day when you really can't face any more food but that tiny little rum ball sure looks good enough to eat, so you do.

Nicky is bravely cooking for all of us and is doing a traditional dinner on Christmas Eve. She's already made a trip to the Rutherglen Vineyards north of Melbourne for all the wine, champagne and dessert wines we'll need, and I'm guessing she'll need most of it.

On Christmas Day it's just Alex, me, Jonathan, Nicky, Leslie and James for a picnic in the park opposite her apartment.

Christmas in Australia is a unique experience. Usually it's a blazing hot day and everyone is outdoors which means that instead of being tucked in cozily at home watching a new DVD Christmas present as you do in the UK, everyone's at the beach or in the park. As such, it's like one big outdoor party as everywhere you go there are loads of people laughing, swimming, eating, drinking and avoiding talking to their mothers-in-law.

Christmas day lunch is usually cold cooked prawns the size of small lobsters, coleslaw, potato salad, french bread, and if you're having a barbecue, the prerequisite sausages and steak, all sizzled to charcoaled imperfection. Desserts are usually pavlova if you're indoors (the cream won't survive outside), or chilled fruit salad if you're out. Nobody in their right mind would cook a turkey on Christmas Day here.

Well, that's pretty much what's in store for us this Christmas. We will, however, definitely miss the company of our family and friends and the excuse of staying indoors to watch DVDs whilst a hot dinner settles.

We've spent the last few Christmases with Alex's family; his two brothers Tim and Robin and their respective wives Sally and Lydia, will be greatly missed, as will our beautiful, lively and amazing niece, Florence, who has just turned 9 and will be a young lady before we know it. We congratulate Robin and Lydia on their first Christmas together as newlyweds and hello to their 'bump' who will be sharing Christmas with them but won't be delivered until next March.

Happy Christmas to my mum, dad, Peter, Jan and all the family and our friends. We miss you and think of you loads.

Alex has just finished part two of his breakfast - a bowl of Cheerios. What that tells you about him I can only guess!

I'm off to do something about this birdsnest I'm wearing so it's Happy Christmas from me, and Happy Christmas from him.