While we missed out on the onslaught of Christmas advertising, late-night shopping and Boxing Day sales (thank god) Santa did not forget us here on Macquarie Island.
Preparations for the day began a week in advance when I decided to try making Christmas fruit mince and a plum pudding (apparently both are supposed to be made 6 months in advance, whoops!). Food prep continued to be the theme of the week with everyone lending a hand in the kitchen at different times under the patient guidance of chef Annette. Thank goodness she used to teach cooking classes and can cater for all skill levels...
Outside the kitchen, the trades workshops were busy late into the evenings with people making various secret santa gifts.
The day itself got off to an excellent start with brunch catered by me and Ali (our station leader) in order to give our long suffering chef a bit of a break. Santa and his sleigh then arrived in the early afternoon to hand out gifts, including an orange for every person (the last oranges we'll have until March).
The main Christmas meal got started with canapes at 5pm, and the food just kept coming. In the end we only got through about 1/4 of it, but fortunately the left overs were steadily demolished over the next week. And the best news of all - it turns out Christmas fruit mince and plum pudding taste just as good a week old as the usual 6-months!
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| Ali adds her pressies to the tree. Everyone on station participated in secret santa - given we can't just pop down to the shops there were some excellent handmade presents made. |
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| Even the elephant seal weaners get in on the Christmas spirit |
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| Food prep was in full swing in the days leading up to Christmas. Mel and Danielle work on dessert options. |
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| Along with the food prep came plenty of dishes. Angus (a vegetarian) rocks his turkey hat while sorting out some of the pile. |
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| It wouldn't be a true AAD (Austrlian Antarctic Division) Christmas without a technical problem - Norbert and Pete sort out a fire alarm panel fault on Christmas morning. |
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| Santa arrives a la Polaris. |
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| A santa beard doesn't get much better than this. Greg (aka - St Nicholas) hands out gifts. |
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| Just a little bit of the Christmas spread. Mmmm. |
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| One big happy Macca family. And enough food to last the next week! |
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