It wasnt till recenty that Australia started doing the halloween thing, and its still not really that big yet but its gets bigger each year. When I was a kid 20 years ago we'd never heard of it. With the amount of american tv we get here I guess it was a matter of time before we started to celebrate it too. Kids come round my family's house to trick or treat and my parents open the door stunned, they dont have a clue what its all about and think its greedy for kids to ask strangers for candy! We do know what thanksgiving is, but we dont do that one here in Australia. I wouldnt be suprised if we stole it from you guys at some point though because the shops are always looking for new ways to sell more stuff. Christmas decorations go in the shop to be sold at like Easter these days.
I heard in Graphic Design school when we were studying advertising, that Coca Cola featured santa in an ad many years ago, wearing their trademark red as his suit colour. Prior to that he wore a green suit, the traditional colour. So coke mde this red suit of santa's a prominent feature that we all associate with him. the power of advertising hey.
My family does the christmas thing, its hot here then, usually 30+ degrees celsius so we have a bbq and sit outside. This year will be the first raw one for my hubby and I, and we got practice with that yesterday- we had a family bbq and made a huge salad and a fruit salad. We skipped the bbq meat in favour of the salad, and suprisingly my family ate more salad than they usually do. Mind you they still piled like steaks and 6 sausages on, but any salad is a good move for them! Its always an excuse to get drunk too, and we were the only sober ones who were still full of energy too. Everyone else had red faces, were grumpy and were all sleepy from too much meat. Thats usual for christmas for us too. I have memories each year of everyone snoozing on the lounge after lunch. This year hubby and I have plans to drink copius amounts of green juice and eat fruits and play soccer and stuff outside all day while everyone sleeps in front of the tv all afternoon.

that's a really beautiful way to look at it.  =)