Merry Christmas!
Come with me, this Christmas Eve, to Lobethal,
a little German village in the Adelaide Hills.
a little German village in the Adelaide Hills.
The whole town lights up every year
to celebrate the season and spread Christmas cheer.
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| I love the wallaby next to the Christmas tree in the driveway. (Who needs reindeer?) |
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| The yellow light on the wall is constructed from plastic cups! |
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| I love the sunset as much as the lights. |
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| This house has an express post box to the North Pole. Children like to deliver their letters to Father Christmas and tourists like to take photos of themselves with the decorations. |
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| These snowmen are pretty and the penguins are cute but snowy scenes always seem incongruous to me because it doesn't snow at Christmas in Australia (and I didn't think it snowed in Bethlehem). |
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| This would be one of the most beautiful Father Christmas sleighs I have seen in a private garden. I hope you posted your letters to him on time! |
These photos are a tiny sample of the Lobethal sights at Christmas time.
Wishing you a beautiful, safe and peaceful Christmas, full of light, love and joy.
It all looks magical, I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. :) x
ReplyDeleteIt is like magic, driving through the dark hills at night and then rounding a bend to discover a valley of lights.
DeleteThe main street is abuzz with amusements and food trucks in addition to the regular pub and cafes. Lobethal is also home to the original Onkaparinga Woollen Mill.
Merry Christmas! Best wishes for a healthy and peaceful 2017.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sarah. Same to you. Did you get your last project done before Christmas? I am taking your advice and, after replying to everyone here, I will be making some time to craft and reacquainting myself with some WIPs. I will be thinking of you knitting away while I am crocheting. :-)
DeleteI can remember it DID snow here one year - before you were born. My brother and I went out and constructed a tiny snowman. He melted before lunch but it was real snow and we thought it was a real Christmas! Have a wonderful day and all the best for 2017
ReplyDeleteAre you sure it was Christmas time, Cat, and not your parents during the winter saying, "Gee it is just like Christmas"? I know it snows in the Australian Alps in December but I am still searching for a record of snow in December for Adelaide. What a fun memory.
DeleteWhat made you think one needed snow to make it a 'real' Christmas? I find that so interesting, having never seen snow at Christmas time yet it still feels like Christmas to me. :-) It is what we are used to, I suppose. It is amazing how our ideas are affected by our experiences and influences. I'm so glad you told me this story - so cute. It a beautiful memory.
I hope you had a lovely day and that you get a good holiday break. Cheers!
Such a beautiful place to visit. Merry Christmas my dear friend. Hugs to you,
ReplyDeleteMeredith
It is amazing how just about everyone in the town participates, especially in the current economic climate where electricity costs have risen steeply in South Australia. The Lobethal locals are very generous and, as you can see from the pictures, when they do lights, they go all-the-way. So if anyone from Lobethal is reading this, I need to say 'Thank you!'
DeleteAre there many Christmas lights in your city? I used to put lights in my window but when I got sick, I was going to bed so early that it was still daylight! I stopped putting up lights because they never got switched on (plus it was one more task to drain precious energy). These days my favourite lights are on my Christmas tree and the children take care of those.
I hope your Christmas was magical. I picture you with all the boys at home enjoying a feast, with all of your santas looking on! All the best to you, Meredith :-)
Everything is so beautiful and festive. My husband's family lives in Jerusalem and they do get snow along with many of the surrounding Middle Eastern countries. Kuwait tends to get much colder than the other Gulf Countries because it has an open desert. My boys are here from the States, both living where it is cold and snowy, so they were hoping for blue skies but there's been nothing but gray since they arrived. Merry Christmas to you and yours. Tammy
ReplyDeleteThank you for correcting me, Tammy! I rely on people like you who actually live in these places to let me know. Does it snow in December there? All of the biblical Christmas cards that I have seen have desert scenes without snow.
DeleteI love reading your blog because I get to see and learn about your part of the world. I have been to Dubai as a child and my memory of that was searing heat shortly after sunrise (that was in July/August). It was also well before all of the modern skyscrapers. I can't believe it is the same place now.
I hope your Christmas Day was nice and I look forward to learning more about Kuwait and surrounding areas on your blog.
Seasons Greetings, Tammy! :-)
Oh the magic of Christmas lights. We didn't make it out this year to see any decorations due to may chronic fatigue. However if I had a street like that near by I would of mustered the energy. I do get annoyed and my four year old is confused at the Snow themed Christmas.
ReplyDeleteHi Zena,
DeleteI am sad that Christmas excursions were beyond your capacity this year but you need to look after your health first. I hope these photos helped to get you into the spirit even though they are no substitute for the real thing.
I like to walk around the neighbourhood to see local lights with my children in the evenings leading up to Christmas each year but I didn't have the energy this year either. Lobethal was a lucky opportunity.
I was lucky to have someone who could drive us in the car to Lobethal because there is no way I could drive there myself.
As for the season confusion at Christmas, Easter and Halloween, we can't really blame a child for being confused, can we? On reflection, the whole holiday is a confusion of Christian and pagan rituals. No wonder some things make no sense to us. All we can do is explain the history of these things with our children and continue to foster our own traditions for a uniquely Australian Christmas time.
I hope you had a nice holiday and compliments of the season to you. Happy New Year!