In celebration of Christmas

As another year comes to a close, it’s time to celebrate Christmas

Christmas is again approaching, and as is the tradition here at The Grapevine it’s time to celebrate with an article!

I always enjoy this time leading up to Christmas as the city comes alive with festivities and there is a general air of happiness and charity across Melbourne.

One of the best Christmas practices is in fact a tradition that goes back many centuries. The lighting of advent wreaths in our churches is a simple but elegant way in which the weeks are counted during Advent. The wreath contains four candles – three purple and one pink – and as the weeks pass a new candle is lit until the week of Christmas. Seeing the Advent wreath always gives me a sense of happiness, as it marks the coming of Christmas.

A Christmas wreath suspended from the ceiling of St Francis Church.

As always, the traditonal Myer Windows are popular in Melbourne. The theme for 2007 is Uno’s Garden, a children’s book by Graeme Base (ISBN 0670041912). All of the window’s in Myer’s Bourke Street store have been dedicated to recreating Base’s story about striking the correct balance between development and conservation. The display is excellent and I decided this year to view the windows in the evening when the queues are much shorter. I suggest you do the same!

A mother shows her child the Myer Windows at night.

One of the nicest Christmas displays this year was one that I found by chance. When visiting Federation Square, I walked past the BMW Edge Theatre Hall. Therein I found a giant spiral Christmas Tree made of LED lights that lit the whole room. It’s simple elegance was so captivating! In fact the whole Christmas display at Federation Square was really interesting with different types of decorations spread throughout the main atrium. They’re well worth a look as well as the giant Advent Calendar on the eastern ‘shard’.

The Christmas Tree at BMW Edge,Federation Square.

Perhaps the most elegant of Christmas displays can be witnessed in the former Commercial Bank of Australia Banking Chambers at 333 Collins Street.

The original portion of this amazing building was constructed in 1891 and features a barrel-vaulted ceiling, granite columns, giant arches, elaborate wrought iron gates and a shiny marble floor. In the centre is a huge Christmas tree.

With the ornate plasterwork as a backdrop, this really makes for an elegant scene indeed.

The festive interior of 333 Collins Street.

Of course there are many other Christmas displays across the city. As was the case last year, the John Mockridge Fountain Wall is the backdrop to a “nativity panel” which consists of metal cut-out lettering quoting the parts of the bible describing Christ’s birth. This looks really amazing at night, and with the nearby giant Christmas tree adds much Christmas cheer to the City Square site.

The “Nativity Wall” illuminated at night.

One of the disappointments is that the City of Melbourne Council has again decided to recycle the same cheap-looking stars suspended from the overhead tram wires. These are used every year and I really do feel that these fail to express the joy of a city’s celebration of Christmas. I am hoping they’ll be replaced with something better next year.

Dull and boring: Melbourne’s streets feature these uninspiring stars.

Despite the dull stars, Council can be forgiven on account of the delightful Christmas lights display in Hardware Lane. This is an annual tradition that goes back many years, but the festive lights really look great along the narrow laneway that serves as a popular café spot in the city centre.

I’ll end this post with a photo I took earlier in December of a bunch of Santa’s running down the Bourke Street Mall. The Santa’s were raising awareness for UnitingCare’s Giving Tree, it turned out. Anyway, I found this spectacle rather amusing!

Santa’s running down the Bourke Street Mall.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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