A white Christmas vs a hot Christmas!
Christmas in South Africa is very different to the Christmas time I am used to growing up in Holland. Over there the days are very short. This time of the year the sun rises around 8:30 and already sets at 16:30. And it is nice and cold. Not Scandinavia cold, but cold enough to have an occasional ‘white Christmas’.
We put up fairy lights all over, not just in the Christmas tree. But in the trees in our garden, our window frames, in vases. You name it; we put fairy lights in or on it. Probably a desperate attempt to (over) compensate for the limited amount of daylight hours we have. Everything needs to be ‘gezellig’ as we call it.
Every year, I try and bring some of our Dutch ‘gezelligheid’ to our home in Kruger. But when it is 40 something degrees outside and the days are long, it somehow just does not feel the same. Which is totally ok. We just go with the South African flow!
The first Christmas Alex and I spent in Letaba with Steven we made a potjie. I have no idea why I thought that was a good idea. It was 45 degrees and really not the weather to have a good old hearty stew. Rookie mistake! We have learnt a lot since then;-)
This year, I have a very dear friend from Holland coming to visit! I am fetching her from the airport in Nelspruit today! So we are going to have a good old South African Braai and lemon meringue for dessert! The last few days we have had elephants all around the house again. Maybe the ellies will come and join us for Christmas dinner! That would be awesome!
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all Our Life in Kruger friends a very merry and blessed Christmas! I hope you have a wonderful time with your loved ones. And if you are in the park, enjoy! Maybe you will have some animal visitors for Christmas dinner too!
Lots of love from us here in Kruger!
Steven, Linda, Alex and Jack
Ps. Voting for the 2018 SA Blog awards ends the 31st of December. If you have not voted yet, would you please spare a moment and support us by voting? All you need to do is click on the red ‘Vote’ badge on our website. This links to the voting page. You can vote for either the lifestyle category or the travel category or both. You will then receive an email with a link you click on to confirm your vote. I am up against some pretty big blogs, so I could use your help!
If you have already voted, thank you so much!!! I appreciate it a lot!
Merry Christmas Steven, Linda, Alex and Jack
May you have a blessed day and special visitors
Thank you so much, Francois!
A very Merry Christmas to you and your family. May your day be filled with lots of Joy and Fun. Hope the Ellies join you for the day. xx
Hi Denise! The ellies did! And we had a hyena and a scorpion visit us too! Can you believe it!
Thank you for such interesting stories Guys. Merry Christmas!
Thank you, Brian! I hope you had a fabulous time too!
Merry Christmas to you and your family. Whether spending Christmas shivering in the northern hemisphere (like us) or enjoying the heat of the magnificent Kruger Park, it unites us all at this special time of year.
Very true, Richard! I hope you had a lovely two days! Warm hugs from Kruger!
Thoroughly enjoy reading your blog and confirm that our votes are in. Holding thumbs for you Linda and Steven! ?????
Thank you for voting, Linda! Appreciate it a lot! x
All the very, very best. We are having a few cool days here in SE Queensland (ie – about 26-28degs C and about 20 at night).
Christmas with the beasts – what we had for years and years in various KNP camps either in caravan or tent. What do I miss about Africa? I just mentioned it (apart from family and friends but they fall in another special category)
and have a great new year.
Hi Erik! 28 degrees sounds lovely! We are up for another scorcher here: 43 degrees. I hope you had a lovely Christmas and many blessings for the new year! x, linda
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Gaynor!!
Best wishes to you Linda and Steven, Alex and Jack and your friend from Holland. It is late evening 25 December and Christmas 2018 has almost ended. I hope it was good one for you and that the Ellies did join you, how exciting for your friend from Holland. May 2019 be a wonderful year for all of you.
Thank you, Mavis! My friend still can not believe we had elephants ‘in’ our backyard! We are having the best time! Many blessings for the new year for you too!! xx
And a merry christmas to you and your family Linda. And all the best for 2019. Looking forward to more blogs.
Thank you so much, Wendy! I hope you had a lovely Christmas too! We have some lekker plans for next year! xx
Hope you and your family have been having a very happy Christmas Linda. Hope you were able to spend some of it with the ellies!
Sal
Hi Sal! We had a lovely Christmas, thank you! I hope you did as well! xx
Have you ever come across a ranger called Mark Taylor? Used to work for Rattray Reserves.
Hi Gerry, I do not think I have. Maybe Steven did. He has been in the park a lot longer than me!
I love those red outfits on potjie day though. ?
Haha we have had those aprons for ages! They moved to South Africa with me! Hope you had a lovely new Years, Liza! See you soon! xxx