Melbourne's "White" Christmas

Since we're well into summer down here, I was quite aware that the odds were stacked against me in terms of having the opportunity to enjoy a white Christmas. There was no mystery as to whether or not I would wake up and find a peaceful blanket of snow outside, but I was more than excited to be experiencing my first summer Christmas.

The day started off with my going to church in the morning, which marked the first time I've ever attended a Christmas Day service. I had wanted to go to St. Jude's in Carlton because I knew a lot of people who were going to be there; however, I fell asleep too late the night before to not want tostay in bed for at least a half hour longer so I ended up going to the service in Parkville, which is a satellite of St. Jude's and where I've been going for the past few weeks anyway. I wish I would have made it to Carlton, but the Parkville service was nice as well.

After church, I traveled to the house of some friends in Footscray to attend a lovely Christmas barbecue. I had known that the weather reports were predicting some afternoon showers and unfortunately, as soon as I stepped off the bus, they proved to be accurate as it started to rain pretty steadily. When I arrived at the barbecue, everyone was moving the food, tables, and chairs indoors; however, after a while, the rain stopped

so we were able to sit outside for a little bit. All the food was delicious, including the stingray, which I had never even thought about eating before two days ago.

In a bizarre turn of events [okay, so maybe not that bizarre for this city], as we were eating the gingerbread house, large chunks of hail started falling from the sky, thus granting me a "white" Christmas after all.

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! :o)