Spicy Christmas Take: Sorry, but Christmas just makes more sense in winter

Welcome to Spicy Christmas Takes, a series where the 9Honey team put their strongest, most divisive festive opinions out into the world.

Voicing an opinion that's even slightly summer-averse makes you a pariah in Australian society, but here goes: Christmas just makes more sense in winter.

You can wear a Santa hat to the beach all you like, but having experienced Christmas on both sides of the equator, I believe the overall ~vibe~ of the holiday, from bowlfuls of pudding to cosying up on the lounge to watch The Holiday for the 17th time, calls for cold weather.

READ MORE: Spicy Christmas Take: It's time to abolish the kids' table

Before we go any further, a couple of caveats:

1. New Year's Eve absolutely makes more sense as a summer event. We southern hemisphere-dwellers won that round.
2. Please don't ask me how I plan to engineer a winter Christmas for us here in Australia. I don't have any answers. Just like watching a rom com involving time-travel, it's best to just accept that Bill Nighy transcends the laws of physics and to skip over the crucial details entirely.

Now, *taps mic* allow me to lay out my evidence.

There's already *too much* going on in summer

Many Aussies would argue December brings all the 'good stuff': breaks from school and work, warm weather, Christmas, New Year.

As far as I'm concerned, it's too much in one go and puts way too much pressure on one short section of the year. Then boom, it's over.

A winter Christmas allows you to bask in the joy of the summer period — and all the excitement and recreation that brings — in its own right without the added stresses of gift shopping, office parties, festive grocery shopping (and fridge tetris-ing), zipping from one family event to another... etc.

READ MORE: The best Christmas Day photos of the royal family through the years

Winter magic

On the other side of the coin, the festive season really cheers up the gloom of the colder months and offers something to look forward to at a time of year where not much is really going on.

There's also something magical about the twinkle of Christmas lights on a dark evening, or baking gingerbread to warm up on a cold night, or doing as the Europeans do and strolling around a Christmas market, mulled wine in hand.

Plus, so much of the Christmas imagery embraced here in Australia — from tree bauble and wrapping paper designs to shop window displays to Santa photos to the songs playing on loop in our retail centres — is already so wintery, we might as well truly commit. (Added bonus: ugly Christmas jumpers!)

The food situation

Mmm, nothing better on a sweltering day than gathering elbow-to-elbow around the table to feast on oven-roasted meats, rich sides and dense, steaming desserts.

Sure, many an Aussie family has adapted to the heat with more summery takes on the Christmas menu — seafood, salads, pavlova — but there's still a lot of commitment to the roast-style meal.

Feasting (and, uh... overindulging) is such a huge part of Christmas, and who can honestly say they feel like seconds in sticky, sweaty weather?

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Also, before the inevitable rebuttal arises: all well and good if you can duck to the beach or jump in a pool between prawn cocktails, or just flop down under an air-con unit, but not everyone has that luxury, so it's not a blanket defence.

Won't someone think of the Santas?

Look, Aussies have a questionable sense of humour at the best of times... but can we agree it's truly diabolical that we force people to dress up in fleecy Santa suits, complete with gloves, fake beard and hat, at the hottest time of the year?

Alright, time for me to step off the podium before the tomatoes are thrown...