Christmas in Australia (or anywhere else ‘Western’ below the equator I suppose) has always been a bit weird… most of the imported traditions are just plain absurd in the context of the opposite season, not to mention an alien ecosystem. But still, there’s a big slice of the population who break out the fake snow and reindeer (~99.9% of Australians have never seen the snow except on a skiing trip, and probably 99.99% have never seen a deer IRL), with dutiful mums churning out turkey roasts in the heat, and fat dads donning sweaty Santa costumes; it’s like some kind of Bizarro World festival.
It’s a pretty good gauge of the proportion of folks who blindly accept any old shit society promotes without ever critically examining it, and it provides creative opportunities to develop new rituals; I reckon my mum’s alternative to the turkey roast pwns: lobster and champagne. But south of the equator, Chistmas is also just kind of the starting gun for the party season; people are on holidays and the sun’s shining, and ‘Chrissy’ for most is about catching up with friends and family and sinking a bunch of piss. And weird irrelevancies like foam reindeer horns.
As for whether I’d prefer to break bread with Tutu or Dawkins, that’s a pretty easy call for me. Tutu may well have a more personable demeanor, but Dawkins is amenable to reason. I disagree with both their positions, and saying so to Tutu would be utterly futile, but with Dawkins there should exist a slight chance of converting him from atheism to agnosticism, which IMO is obviously the most appropriate stance for any man of science. For example: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/04/consciousness-after-death/all/
