2022
The Christmas season in Melbourne this year is feeling a bit more festive this year than last year. Finally, we are able to celebrate it with family and friends and also move about more freely in the streets. We have had curfews and limitations to distances we can travel from our homes until recently but some restrictions (e.g. masks) are back in force. Christmas celebrations last year was very very low keyed.
One Melbourne tradition for this festive season is the decoration of front yards. Some decorate with tens of thousands of lights which can take them more than a month to set up. Some use the opportunity to raise funds for charity through their light displays. These home displays are free to view. Some streets have many participants in it while others have few. There is one street in particular in Ferntree Gully that maintained this tradition this year. The big one that used to attract thousands and thousands of visitors from all across Melbourne in Ivanhoe was cancelled this year - this one is usually a major event with food trucks, first aid stations, toilets, street directors etc. People usually throng almost shoulder to shoulder at The Boulevard and there would be continuous queues of slowly moving cars entering the street. (You can see some of the photos from previous year of that place here.) But this year, we contented ourselves with Chestnut Avenue, Ferntree Gully.
One good thing about a cautious crowd is that we can get really good views of the displays in the homes. Here is a collage of some of the scenes from Chestnut Avenue as well as around Melbourne.
You can view more photos I have taken around Melbourne in the streets and shopping centres etc in my photo album here. I'll add to them as I take more.
In the meantime, I would like to wish all Local Guides a very blessed, happy and safe Christmas and holiday season and look forward to making more new friends in the new year through our mutual love of being local guides.
How do you celebrate Christmas in your city, region or as a family? Would you like to contribute to the #ChristmasInMyCity 2021 challenge? Share some photos or share a link to your post for instance. Do you eat special foods at this time?
@MariaNgo Happy Christmas for you and for all celebrating Christmas today! It's so nice to hear this Christmas is more festive this year in your country and you have more freedom this year!
Your Christmas is so warm!
There are many Catholics in Belarus, so New Year mood always starts from 25th of December on Catholic Christmas with the most bright and widely celebrated New Year Eve being the peak point and ends with our main Orthodox Christmas on the 7th of January. Both Catholic and Orthodox Christmas are usually celebrated not noisy, with families.
Now the preparings for Christmas and New Year are just in full swing here. People search for presents for friends and relatives, in schools and kindergartens were parties for children with Ded Moroz and his granddaughter Snegurochka.
P.S. Your Google Photos album looks unusual with explanations and breakdowns into sections. Is this a new update?
