Search for Christmas, Hanukkah joy in bittersweet times

Australians are rejoicing, reflecting and remembering on Christmas Day as the holiday kickstarts summer celebrations for some and bookends a difficult year for others.

Almost the entire country is set to bask in a sunny day, with warm northerly winds lifting temperatures above 30C in several capitals.

Few blemishes are expected elsewhere with showers in Western Australia’s southwest and storms in the Top End.

Millions of Australians will mark the day with present giving and lunches with family and friends.

But it won’t be all festive cheer, particularly for those remembering those missing around the table.

That includes the 70 Palestinian Christian families marking Christmas in Australia, including a 28-year-old refugee whose wife and two daughters were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a church in 2023.

He’s among those granted refugee status in Australia after Israel invaded Gaza as retaliation to the October 7 Hamas attack.

“There’s so much trauma, the families are suffering the trauma from the war because it is ongoing and a lot of their families are still in Gaza,” Palestinian Christians Association President Suzan Wahhab told AAP.

“I would say it’s bittersweet.”

Still, Ms Wahhab said the group is working hard to ensure the day can still bring joy, by throwing gift drives and church services across the country.

“But the shadow of the war, the shadow of losing loved ones and thinking about them during this time is overpowering,” she said.

The war and the ripple effect of hatred have also cast a shadow over the Jewish Festival of Lights, which begins on Christmas Day for only the fourth time since 1900.

But the leader of Sydney’s Great Synagogue said the message for Hannukah was one of community strength and unity after a spate of anti-Semitic attacks across the country.

“It’s always better when any community - Jews or otherwise - think about their own traditions and celebrations and what they enjoy about their culture,” Rabbi Benjamin Elton told AAP.

“That is more sustaining than thinking about attitudes of hostile outsiders.”

He noted a resurgence of Jewish community spirit and interest in Jewish practices in the past year.

“When there is such a sense of external aggression and hostility by a very unpleasant minority, then people come to re-examine why they value their traditions and their community,” he said.

Christmas Day will also be a time of reflection for Australia’s northern capital as it marks 50 years since Cyclone Tracey tore Darwin to shreds, killing at least 66 people.

“This will be a difficult period where people will remember lost loved ones and remember as well the traumatic experience that they had,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Darwin.

He also thanked doctors, nurses, hospitality staff and all those working over Christmas to make the season of celebration and reflection possible.

“I do want to wish everyone the very best and a peaceful and joyful Christmas,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton celebrated Australian stoicism in the face of financial pressures in his Christmas message.

“I salute our charity workers, our food banks and those feeding the poor and homeless who, although overstretched, are always outstanding in what they do,” he said.

Up to 1000 people experiencing homelessness and social isolation are expected to attend the Wayside Christmas street party in Sydney.

Four times that amount are expected to be treated to a free lunch across town with Reverend Bill Crews at his charity’s headquarters.

Bushfire risk meanwhile will keep communities in Victoria’s west and South Australia nervous.

Total fire bans have been declared in SA’s Mount Lofty Ranges and west coast for Christmas Day and across Victoria on Boxing Day.