It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...sort of

Christmas Tree in King George Square

This is our second Christmas in Brisbane.  Christmas is still a time of year that we associate with winter, as do most other parts of the world.  Even here, where the temperature is in the low 30s everyday with high humidity, the Christmas carols are all the same and the decorations have a winter theme.  The main Myer store here has fantastic window displays at Christmas every year (Myer is pretty much the same thing as The Bay or any other national department store).  Last year the theme was the Nutcracker and this year it is Santa's Workshop.  The windows are entirely anima-tronic, with constant Christmas music and singing elves. 

Santa's Workshop, Myer window

There are a few differences, of course.  The carollers that one would normally expect to see walking around in groups wearing Victorian-style winter garb are replaced by some rather svelte looking ladies in small red dresses.  There is an atmosphere that goes beyond festive, too.  Today JB saw two acrobats performing next to a group of carollers and two ladies on stilts, dressed like flamingoes!  It was all very impressive, if not overly Christmasy.  There is one Christmas tradition, however, that we did not hesitate to embrace: the Christmas feast!  No turkey, no stuffing, no cranberry sauce, just as many prawns and oysters as you can possibly eat.  Last year the unthinkable happened and we actually got tired of eating all the fresh seafood.  This year we might try to control ourselves a bit better, but we all know that anything covered in melted butter is impossible to resist.  It just makes it easier to come up with a "butter-free 2012" New Year's resolution.  (Like that will ever happen.)