Mele Kalikimak is the island way of saying Seasons Greetings

There’s something strange about celebrating a Festival of Lights in a land of brightness. We’ve been lame about lighting the candles, partially due to the fact that it doesn’t get dark until after Rachel goes to bed. Like all new people in a new land, we’ve taken some of our old traditions, such as presents, and melded them with new holiday traditions like feeding the ducks in the park.

Our holiday festivities started with a gigantic music festival called Coca-Cola Presents Christmas In the Park. We knew we were in a strange land when the MC said, “…because when you think of Christmas, you think of drinking Coca Cola on the beach with friends”

New Zealanders have their own holiday idiosyncracies. For instance, the pohutukawa tree is considered their Christmas tree, since its red blossoms come out in December.

On Christmas morning we drove to Lake Taupo, which is about 3 hours south of Auckland. We got into the rental car, hit the highway, and turned on the radio. The DJ, I’m not making this up, starting talking about all of the canceled flights at the Minneapolis Airport. I would be lying if I didn’t admit to schadenfreude filling the car.

Lake Taupo is the largest lake in New Zealand. It was created from a number of volcanic eruptions. The last one was about 2,000 years ago and was so powerful it turned the skies over Rome and China red. Currently, the volcano is considered dormant and the area features numerous geothermal features.

We did see snow this Christmas

Instead of the radiant glow of a Yule log, we had the thermal steam-heat of a hot spring.

In the end it all worked out the same though. Rachel is in bed, exhausted from a long day.