FORD CITY — It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas — but where is the snow?
That's what Francine McMullen and her three children want to know. They live in Melbourne, Australia, where temperatures are expected to reach 100 degrees on Christmas and they have traveled half way around the world to spend Christmas with McMullen's former host family along Fourth Avenue.
McMullen was an exchange student during the 1983 -84 school year and lived with the Nickleach family while attending her senior year at Ford City High School. Since then she has remained close with Armstrong County Senior Judge Joseph Nickleach and his wife, Judy, and their three daughters.
And now McMullen has returned once again to the warm hospitality of the Nickleach family with her sons Josh, 13, Zac, 11, and her 8-year-old daughter, Charli.
"We're hoping for a white Christmas," said McMullen, adding that the children have made it clear that "at the first sign of snow, everyone is to be woken up."
So far, the children have enjoyed seeing things they associate with America which are unfamiliar to them at home. Until now, they have only seen these things on television or in the movies:
"Yellow school buses," said Charli.
"Squirrels," said Josh.
McMullen and her children spent some time in New York City and Washington, D.C., before their arrival in Ford City. They went ice skating in Central Park, saw the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, attended the Broadway productions of "The Lion King" and "Wicked" and browsed along 34th Street to take in all the holiday light displays in the shop windows.
Josh said he liked seeing the yellow taxi cabs and the people hailing them down — just like in the movies. They were even lucky enough to see the famous actor and fellow Australian, Hugh Jackman, while in New York. And they have a photo with him to prove it.
Everywhere they've gone, they said, they have seen houses with outdoor light displays and inflatable decorations — or as Josh, Zac and Charli like to call them: "the blow-up thingies."
People don't light up the outside of their homes with holiday displays in Australia, said McMullen, because the sun doesn't set until 9 p.m. at this time of year. It is summer in Australia now, and McMullen said most Austalians hit the beach or have a pool-side barbecue on Christmas. Seafood, fresh fruit and berries are served up alongside more traditional fare like turkey and ham and plum pudding.
During her time as an exchange student, McMullen said Ford City offered so much in terms of amenities and activities compared with her rural hometown of Perth. She said her high school experience in Western Pennsylvania was very different from the private all-girls school she attended at home.
In Ford City there were corridors with lockers, cheerleaders and a cafeteria — just like on T.V., she said.
High school in Australia follows the British structure where the last two years lead up to one final exam which must be passed in order to graduate. The school year runs from February to December.
McMullen said that Josh puts in five hours of study during most weekends in addition to his singing, clarinet and dance lessons. He has performed in many amateur productions and hopes to make it to the big time some day. Zac said he likes skateboarding, playing basketball and enjoys playing video games.
Charli got in the holiday spirit by singing funny Christmas carols. She and her brothers helped the Nickleach family decorate their Christmas tree. The children call Joseph and Judy Nickleach their grandparents.
"Francine became part of the family," said Judy. "Having them here — that makes my Christmas."
