christmas

I don't really feel much of the 'Christmas Spirit' this year. I think that's probably because I feel alot of that is connected to a sense of belonging, a place, and connection with friends and family. And I'm a bit disconnected at the moment. It could also be that I'm used to a hot (and often wet) christmas, so a cold christmas is an entirely new scenario.

It started to snow this week. It is beautiful, and definitely transforms landscapes completely. The first snow was on Thursday, and I watched in wonder from the window of the office (I have only seen it snow once before). It didnt settle though, just made everything wet and icy. Friday night was when it started to really snow. It started at about 8pm and went most of the night, ended up being about 25cm deep. When I was walking home from dinner, there were kids having snowball fights in the middle of the street. Looked like fun!

It will be strange not to be home for Christmas, as there are funny little traditions within our family, some family friends and our next door neighbours on Christmas morning. There is talk of seeing if I can be skyped when its Christmas day in Aus and Christmas Eve in the UK to still be a part of it all.

There are definite negative sides to being so nomadic. I heard my first Christmas carol this week when I was at work at the hospital, and only heard a few seconds of it as I walked past the ward. I ate my first mince pie at the hospital christmas dinner but other than that, the usual connotations with christmas haven't really been there.