It’s Christmas day in Wellington and little Grace is enjoying an ice cream at Worser Bay as holiday revellers enjoy one of the hottest Christmas days New Zealand has ever experienced. Some of you might recognise Grace from pictures taken in January. She was featured (wearing the very same hat) in the first picture of the year and then again on two other occasions.

Earlier this morning Grace was excitedly unwrapping Christmas presents around the enormous tree that my friends Phil and Kerry-anne had somehow squeezed into their living room. Their newest family member, Issac, who is just 4 months old, looked on in wide-eyed fascination at the mornings activities that also included various relatives joining the fun via Skype video chats.

This is my fifth year of celebrating Christmas here in New Zealand and I’ve become quite accustom to the summer Christmas. While I am not a fan of cold weather, I still think I prefer a cold Christmas, where open fires and a giant roast turkey feasts are more fitting. However, in contrast to that, I much prefer New Years Eve being a summer party.