> There are also real Australian Christmas carols, for instance:
>
> The north wind is tossing the leaves
> The red dust is over the town
> The sparrows are under the eaves
> And the grass in the paddock is brown
> As we lift up our voices and sing
> To the Christ child, the heavenly king.

We have some real New Zealand Christmas carols, too. The only one I can think of right now is Te Haranui, which is about the first Christian sermon preached in NZ, by the Rev Samuel Marsden up north in the Bay of Islands. It's quite nice in a sentimental pre-political-correctness kind of way. Especially if you ignore the real reason why the locals gathered round and listened in silent wonder, which was that the Rev was preaching in English and nobody could understand a word of it. :-)

We also have a New Zealand version of "The 12 days of Christmas," substituting NZ items and animals, from a kids' book written a while back. Nobody sings it. It's called "A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree".

Brunnen-"pukekos are flightless, so you'd have to actually put it in the tree yourself, and then it wouldn't be able to get back down"G