Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year! I always celebrate it with my family and friends. On Christmas Eve we have a special church service and dinner at church with our friends. During the service, we listen to the story of Jesus’ birth. Sometimes the adults prepare a Christmas play and the children sing songs. When we have dinner together, the home-cooked food is laid out on long tables like a banquet! I always eat too much and end up having a bad stomachache the next day.
Then we go home and open presents around the Christmas tree. The oldest person in the family opens their gift first, followed by the youngest, and then the rest of us. Since we usually don’t go to bed until 2am, we rest at home on Christmas Day and have lunch together. My mum and my aunt often prepare fresh Vietnamese dishes such as rice paper rolls or vermicelli noodles with barbequed pork, but my brother-in-law loves steak, so he cooks steak for everyone too. I help make the mashed potatoes and Caesar salad. It sounds like a lot of food, doesn’t it? That’s because a lot of my relatives come over to join us for lunch!
My friend from Osaka recently told me that Japanese families don’t often celebrate Christmas and it’s more of a couple’s holiday. I was surprised to hear this because for me Christmas has always been about celebrating with family. I wonder what couples often do for Christmas? I’ve seen pictures in manga books where couples share the same scarf when it’s very cold. Since it doesn’t get too cold in Melbourne, sharing a scarf might seem very silly to a lot of people, but I think it’s very sweet! I’d like to try it someday with my partner!
Did you know that in Australia we have Christmas in the summer? So I’ve never had a winter Christmas before. I think it would be very different! Even though I’m curious about what a winter Christmas would be like, I’ll be going back to Melbourne in December to spend my holiday with my family and friends. I recently learned how to make Japanese curry, so I want to prepare this for everyone at the feast on Christmas Eve!
