Saturnalia during summer?
As I now live in the southern hemisphere it is summer here; which feels very odd to me as it is December, boiling hot and we a celebrating Saturnalia (Xmas) in a few days. It has nothing to do with my situation, that I am still without a job and such, or I do not think so; but I do not have that Xmas feeling in me.
Instead of freezing like crazy I am almost constantly drenched in sweat; generally it is too warm for my sub-conscience to accept it is Yuletide.
Of course, to make matters worse they celebrate Xmas on the 25th, instead of the 24th, like normal people do.
I am used to waking up on the 24th being all excited like a kid, watching Xmas cartoons all day while the grown-ups prepare the big Xmas dinner for that day; as I got older I helped out a bit too. After dinner they torment the children by trying to wait as long as possible until Santa comes and hands out all the presents under the tree. Yes, Santa is the only person authorised to hand out presents. On the 25th we just sleep in, play with our gifts and eat leftovers.
Apparently here they do nothing special on the 24th. From what I understood you just hang out with your family; oh, that must be fun. Then you wakeup and grab the presents with your name on it; as Santa has apparently been there when you were rudely asleep and checked your presents so you are allowed to open them when you wakeup. How boring is that, you do not get the chance to meet Santa. Glad I grew up in Scandinavia so I could at least meet Santa and thank him personally for his effort. Later on the 25th you apparently eat Xmas dinner.
Not only are they one day late, they turn it all around. Of course, it will be an interesting experience from a cultural viewpoint; but it will for sure be very different and odd for me.
I have also been warned that the yokels might find my new haircut a bit odd, I have a sikha again; but I told Lizzie I can insult them in at least four different languages, so I am not too fussed. I am sadly used to ignorance.
Lizzie made 36 cupcakes and I made a huge bowl of Swedish rischoklad. To get an idea of how much rischoklad I made I used over 600 grams of vegan chocolate, 150 grams of vegan butter, and over 1 litre of puffed rice. So if the Xmas with my Aussie family gets a bit too crazy I can binge on cupcakes and rischoklad.
I am also bringing melatonin and temazepam just in case I need a plan B.
Maybe I should bring some damiana and wild lettuce, and brew some nice and calming tea for the whole family. My personal gift to everyone, sending them of to a personal and mental trip.
If I do not manage to escape during Xmas, I will see you after Xmas; and during on Twitter for sure.
Live long and prosper.
