In New Zealand, most of the work places shut down fully or partially around 15th December for a month.
Yes, for a full month, work comes to a halt! Except the essential stuff, of course. Offices send out the year-end holiday shut down dates via email as early as May-June so that people can plan their holidays.
Most of the public Christmas events, parties and school functions are done with, by Dec 15th. After which people set out for their personal or family vacations, celebrations and escapes!
The Kiwis take their annual summer holidays very seriously. Holiday homes, villas and beach rentals are booked out well ahead in time (we found that out while looking for our December retreat). Home leases and employee contracts are signed up till Jan 15th and not Dec 31st, so that nobody in inconvenienced to look for new tenants or employees in the middle of their vacation.
The Wellington City's annual Christmas parade was last weekend. It was all that you expect from a parade and more. Here are glimpses from the parade and the party that followed.
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| It was a riot of colours! |
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| The white ice queen |
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| Summer sun = Fedoras and Hats! |
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| The end of the parade |
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| The party begins! |
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| Darth Vader and his li'l fan! |
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| Li'l girls in oh-so-cute-tiaras |
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| Hospi (from Wellington Children Hospital) giving out free hugs |
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| Crowds colourful and happy |
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| The party goes on until evening and late night |
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| The lights on the huge electric Christmas tree are turned on |
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| Little sparkles of joy - my favourite pic of this lot |
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| So much colour! Another facet of the previous pic |
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| Listening to carols in candle light err saber light! |
Happy Holiday season!! Just 10 more sleeps until Christmas eve :)
This post is part of the
Marathon Blogging December 2012.
So beautiful and Christmassy! Isnt this the best part of the year? For some reason Christmas has been my favourite holiday of the year! Not that we celebrate it...but these pictures makes me want to with kutti "r" around!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful post :) Loved the colors.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful.. its in my bucketlist to travel to a place with white christmas and all such parades and glitter..
ReplyDeleteI like the saber light damn neat pics amazing read :)
ReplyDeletewow! parades are the best to watch during festivals, it brings the festive season alive...beautiful pic :))
ReplyDeleteI have always loved all the outdoors shots of NZ.. this was a very different yet equally beautiful perspective.. lovely shots Simran, thanks for sharing!!
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