Winter wonderland?

In recent weeks something has become increasingly unnerving. Everyone here is getting more and more excited about the Christmas Holidays and the New Year whereas I am becoming happier that the weather is warming up and the sun is out more often. It seems strange to think that Xmas is round the corner but it's hot outside and I'm getting a tan!?!?

I think it's a hangover from the Northern Hemisphere that I should associate the festive period with winter but I just can't help it. Santa and sun just don't mix. I also feel that way about my birthday which is in a few weeks time. I've always celebrated it in the dark coldness that is November so this year it doesn't even feel like I'm having a birthday. If I was here on my own I'd probably forget it until ages after it had past. I wonder if that means I can also forget to add one more year on to my age and just count 2007 as an anti-birthday year?

So who's got it right? The north or the south? Well, I don't suppose there is much in the way of seasons in Jerusalem and also the Earth is closer to the sun in January than any other month so perhaps the Aussies have the edge. One down side though is that during their wet winter months there is nothing to look forward to. They don't have summer holidays in July and August meaning all the good stuff is lumped together at the end of the calender year.

Unlucky? Well let me ask you this - would you rather be singing "Winter wonderland" whilst wrapped in 6 layers of clothing getting hammered as it's the only way to stay warm or would you rather the radio was playing "I'm dreaming of a white christmas" while you chill out on the beach with all your mates drinking cold beers and knowing that the sun is going to be blazing till 9pm when the BBQs will be starting?

Tough choice? Not really!