s to Christmas, I wish I could express all I feel on this
peculiarly English season of 'peace and goodwill.' I remember the
picturesque snow (seen here only on the distant blue mountain tops),
the icy stalactites pendant from the leafless branches, the twitter of
the robin redbreast, the holly, and the mistletoe, decorated homes,
redolent with the effects of the festive cooking, and the warm blazing
firelight, the meeting of families and of friends, the waits, the
grand old peals from the belfries; but, alas, here these childhood
associations are dispelled, half broken, and we acclimatised denizens
adapt our festivities to other modes--not that we forget the Christmas
season, but enjoy it differently, as I will briefly tell you, as you
ask, 'how we spend Christmas in New Zealand.' First, our ladies
decorate the churches for the Christmas services, not with the
evergreens of old exclusively; they do indeed affect the holly, ivy,
and (New Zealand) mistletoe, but they make up with umbrageous and rich
ferns, lachipoden, lauristinas, Portugal laurels, and our own
beautiful evergreen, Ngaio, and with all the midsummer flowers at
command; then the clerk, the storeman, the merchant, and the mechanic
indulge in 'trips,' or day excursions, in small steamboats, to the
neighbouring bays surrounding small townships, and villages on the
coast. Others again, take the train for a day's outing and play
quoits, rounders, lawn tennis, and the like; the sportsman, perhaps,
preferring his gun and his dog; families, again, are picnic-mad, for
your colonist can rival the Cockney any day for making his holiday in
the country. It may be to 'the rocks' he goes to watch his youngsters
paddling in the rolling tide, or to the toil of clambering up the 'dim
mountain,' which seems to suit their hardy lungs better than the shade
of the 'fern glen,' and a journey of eighteen miles to the Maori Pa is
as nothing. The Union Company's fine coasting steamships run
passengers at half fares at this season, and the result is an
interchange of visits between the dwellers in Nelson, Wellington,
Marlboro', and Wanjani, amongst whom there is much rivalry and more
friendship. Then there is the Christmas regatta, the performance of
the 'Messiah' by the musical societies, and the inevitable evening
dances, and thus the New Zealand Christmas is spent.

"I am reminded, by my young clerk, that the mail is about closing, and
that this letter must also close, if it is to