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Americans know Australia as the land Down Under, and one consequence of this geographical flip is that Christmas here falls at the height of summer.

Our 100-degree temperatures aren't exactly conducive to cooking with a hot oven — although early colonists gave it their best shot.

But it wasn't long before Australians began to rebel, ditching the formal dining room for the pleasures of a picnic spread at the beach or a shady glade. Over the years, many of us have abandoned the old British customs altogether.

More In This Series

This is part of a series of stories exploring the rich diversity of Christmastime edibles around the world, and the stories behind the food.

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Explore All The Stories In This Series: The 12 Days Of Quirky Christmas Foods Around The Globe

Except for Christmas pudding.

Plum pudding, as it's also known, has a long, distinguished history going back to at least the early 17th century. Ironically, plums are not an ingredient, though other fruits — dried raisins, sultanas and currants — are obligatory, as are aromatic spices. These are suspended in a matrix made of grated suet, eggs, breadcrumbs and flour — and a healthy pour of brandy, or sometimes rum or sherry. Traditionally, this rich and alcoholic dessert is served with custard and brandy butter. While you welcome it on Christmas Day, once a year is plenty.

Ideally, you make the pudding in November, giving it a month to age. You prepare the fruit and search for silver coins and tiny charms — a money purse, a horseshoe, a ring — to add in. These will predict the finder's luck in the coming year.

Finally, you assemble family for the all-important stirring: Everyone takes turns grasping the stout wooden spoon and pushing it through the solid mass of fruit, coins and charms while making a wish. The spoon must always follow the same direction, and there can be no pause in the stirring, for fear that wishes will not be granted.

All of this ritual — inherited, like the pudding itself, from English tradition — enhances significance, for the pudding, only ever served on Christmas Day, symbolizes Christmas in Australia. It's one of a privileged collection of foods and drinks that, throughout the world, are associated with particular festivals, whether religious or secular, public or private.

Initially, 19th-century Australians faithfully followed English customs, sweating it out to prepare Christmas tables laden with roast beef and all the trimmings. But in adopting menus more in sympathy with the climate, the population found itself gastronomically adrift during the holiday.

Early 20th-century newspapers tried to remedy that, sponsoring competitions for the ideal Christmas menu, always with two options: a hot or cold Christmas dinner. Some promising ideas emerged, such as cold chicken pie, lobster mayonnaise and veal and ham mold. But none of these stayed around long enough to gain general acceptance.

And so to the present, where there is no consensus across the nation as to a Christmas menu. With no new model established, people resort to family tradition: "It's not Christmas without Mum's potato salad." Or they choose dishes that are sufficiently different from everyday meals to mark the day as exceptional and carry the symbolic importance. Think expensive, extravagant treats, such as oysters, prawns and lobsters, or a symbol of largesse, such as a whole ham. Or a dish that represents a labor of love on the part of the cook, such as a deboned, stuffed chicken.

What characterizes the Australian Christmas today is a gastronomic eclecticism that accommodates all families, all faiths, all cultural affiliations. The old idea of a single dish or a menu shared across the nation is more honored in the breach than the observance.

But, we still have pudding. Curiously, in the multiplicity of menus across Australia at Christmas, the pudding remains a surprising constant. Perhaps because it is seen as playing a supporting role, secondary to the main course, it has not been challenged in the same way. And despite the inventiveness of Australian women over the years in producing cold variations — jellied plum pudding, ice cream plum pudding, frozen plum pudding — these never became an alternative tradition.

Christmas Pudding History

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So in many households, the rich, brandy-sodden Christmas pudding survives, a nostalgic nod to the past. The stirring of the pudding, however, increasingly happens in commercial kitchens. Even time-strapped families can continue the tradition, thanks to supermarkets and Lions clubs, which raise money for charity through the sale of Christmas puddings.

Will it survive for one more generation? Waiting in the wings is another contender, the summer duo of mangoes and cherries, both at their seasonal best in December. Fresh, light and uncomplicated, this pairing is also a distinctly Australian finale to Christmas dinner.

Barbara Santich is a culinary historian, professor emeritus at the University of Adelaide and author of Bold Palates: Australia's Gastronomic Heritage.

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Retirement for baby boomers will look different than it did for their parents — Americans are living longer, health care costs more, fewer people have pensions today, and many people facing retirement haven't saved much.

All of that makes managing the nest egg you do have even more vital. But many people need and want guidance on what they should do to make sure their retirement savings last.

A good strategy starts with how long you work and when you claim Social Security. Those two go together because most people ignore one of Social Security's best deals: You can greatly boost your payments by waiting longer to claim them.

Waiting On Social Security

Alicia Munnell, who heads the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, says waiting is often worth it — even if you work longer or spend some savings to get there.

"And then [you] get a nice, big, fat Social Security check at 70, which is wonderful money," says Munnell, author of Falling Short: The Coming Retirement Crisis and What to Do About It. "It is inflation-adjusted, and it goes on for as long as you live."

The benefits of waiting are eye-opening. If you're eligible for a $1,300 monthly check at age 62, you'd get about $440 more per month at 66. Wait until 70, and it's $1,000 extra each month.

Living longer adds another twist. Robert Pozen, a senior lecturer at Harvard who once headed Fidelity Investments, says most people can get a pretty good fix on the income they'll draw from Social Security and savings for 10 or 15 years, but it gets more difficult after that.

"For most people, if I said to you, 'Well, you're gonna live for 30 years more,' it's very hard to project," he says. "And I think it's that uncertainty that makes it very complicated to figure out what it is that you need for your retirement income."

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A recent federal tax ruling is changing the calculus for some. Basically, the Treasury Department eliminated the penalty for using tax-sheltered retirement savings to buy what's known as a deferred annuity. You buy it near retirement, but it doesn't start paying until you're 75, 80, even 85.

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Munnell says that adds a late cushion to Social Security and even frees up earlier spending.

"It means that, if you live longer than 85, you're sure you're going to have some income," she says. "It also fixes the period over which you can spend your resources, you can enjoy your money during the 20 years before this deferred annuity kicks in."

Munnell and Pozen both anticipate that the Treasury Department ruling will trigger a new wave of these products — but caution is in order. These annuities come in many different forms, fees can be high, and if you die early you may never see a penny.

Home Equity

The final big piece of the nest egg puzzle is your home. Munnell says it's OK for cash-strapped retirees to use it. "I am a big fan of tapping home equity, and you can do that in one of two ways," she says.

The first is to downsize — and not just to a smaller house.

"If you actually get to a cheaper house you, can take equity out and use that, or the interest on that, as a source of income. It also dramatically reduces your expenses," she says.

The second way is through a cash-producing reverse mortgage. A disclosure here: Munnell sees such strong future demand for these mortgages that she has invested in a reverse mortgage company herself.

Homeowners considering this should be sure they can also keep up with tax and insurance payments on the home.

John Hixson, an independent financial planner in Lake Charles, La., believes most people with small nest eggs should first wait longer for that bigger Social Security check.

And he's not a fan of annuities. "In the right circumstance it could make sense. But it [should be] a holistic decision, and it should be an unemotional decision," he says.

Resisting Fear

Finally, for anyone feeling pressure to stretch his nest egg, Hixson shares a note of caution: "One thing I would not do, would be to take on undue risk."

Hixson says he sees that temptation often. It's important, he says, for people to make retirement planning decisions based not on fear of outliving their savings, but on a complete picture of their assets, resources and needs.

"Some people get to retirement, they think they don't have enough money, they can't maintain their lifestyle. And their answer is, 'Well, I just need to take more risk so I can earn a higher rate of return.' And that's generally a big mistake," he says.

"I don't recommend that to clients, and I just won't do it for a client that wants to do it," Hixson adds. "Because situations like that don't end well."

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As 2014 winds down, you might want to save that calendar hanging next to the fridge.

Maybe even frame it.

After so many years of misery for the middle class, 2014 is now looking like the one that finally brought relief. The November jobs report, released Friday by the Labor Department, had blowout numbers showing a surge in job creation, an upturn in work hours and a meaningful boost in wages.

The job gains were spread across industries, with big improvements for blue-collar workers. Manufacturing jobs jumped by 28,000, and construction jobs rose by 20,000.

In all, employers added 321,000 workers. Wages rose by 0.4 percent, or 9 cents an hour to $24.66. That wage bump was twice as high as most economists had been predicting.

Planet Money

Where Wages Are Rising (And Falling), In 1 Graph

And the paycheck gains came during a month marked by a dramatic decline in gasoline prices. In other words, last month, workers were getting longer hours and higher pay just as their commuting expenses were declining. Happy holidays!

"The American economy is making real progress," President Obama said at a White House event announcing his choice of Ashton Carter as defense secretary.

Doug Handler, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight, put it more bluntly in his written assessment: "This was a darn good month for the labor market."

GOP House Speaker John Boehner called the November employment report "welcome news" but noted that "millions still remain out of work, and middle-class families across the country, including my home state of Ohio, are struggling to get by on wages that haven't kept pace with rising cost."

Indeed, the Great Recession still casts a long shadow. The number of long-term unemployed, that is, people who have been looking for work for more than 27 weeks, was little changed in November, holding at about 2.8 million.

And while the overall jobless rate remained steady at 5.8 percent last month, the rate for African-Americans was 11.1 percent. Moreover, wages in retail work, where many minority workers are clustered, were just $14.49 an hour.

Dedrick Muhammad, senior director of the NAACP's economic department, spotlighted those figures and said in a statement that "our families need higher wages so that wealth can be built for future generations."

Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who spoke with NPR, said that despite ongoing problems with long-term unemployment and relatively slow wage growth, the November report shows the economy now is "moving in the right direction."

After the battering they have taken over the seven years since the recession began, many workers may remain wary. One of them is Gabriel Laracuente, 24, who lives in East Harlem and works several jobs.

"I still struggle to pay my bills" because wage increases have been scant, he said.

And Laracuente would need more evidence of recovery before he could relax. "I feel like a lot of us are going to get dropped the second that the economy goes down again," he said. "I don't feel that confident."

Perez said he hopes confidence will rise in 2015 as Americans see that employers "will continue to pick up the pace of growth."

Highlights from the November report:

The Labor Department revised job numbers for both September and October. Taken together, the two months saw about 44,000 more jobs created than previously reported.

2014 is on track to be the strongest year for job creation since 1999.

A year ago, the unemployment rate was 7 percent. The current 5.8 percent is the lowest level since mid-2008.

Americans are putting in longer work weeks, up to 34.6 hours, from 34.5 in October.

The labor-force participation rate held at 62.8 percent, essentially unchanged since April.

NPR intern Robert Szypko contributed to this report.

Great Recession

Labor Department

middle class

This weekend, Will Falls decided to skip the local mall near Raleigh, N.C., and shop online instead.

"No standing in line, no finding a parking spot," he says. "Just get comfortable and go at it."

Millions of Americans did the same — Falls helped contribute to an 8.5 percent increase in online shopping Monday compared with 2013, according to data from IBM.

That growth stands in contrast to an 11 percent drop in sales reported by the National Retail Federation at brick-and-mortar stores over the Black Friday weekend compared with a year ago.

"I definitely believe there is cannibalization occurring from the perspective of online against the stores," says Bob Drbul, an analyst and managing director at Nomura Securities.

Of course, some of that cannibalization is going to the retailers' own online arms, he notes.

As for how consumers shopped online, most used desktop computers, which accounted for three-quarters of online sales — though the use of mobile devices rose sharply.

Another reason for the drop in in-store shopping this past weekend, Durbl says, is that retailers spread their Black Friday sales across the whole month of November.

Elle Phillips, a graphic designer from near Boise, Idaho, had family members visiting for Thanksgiving this past weekend. They took very different approaches to their holiday purchases, she says.

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"They wanted to go Black Friday shopping," says Phillips, 37. "I prefer to avoid it at all costs."

Her brother-in-law headed for the hunting and camping retailer Cabela's at 4 a.m., Phillips says. He came back six hours later, with tales of a checkout line stretching to the back of the huge store.

"It literally took him two hours just to get through to the register with a couple of hoodie sweaters," Phillips says. "So that just sort of ... verified the reason why I don't go out on Black Friday."

Phillips, meanwhile, did her shopping online, including finding some new Doc Marten boots for her husband. She looked first for the best price on Amazon, "and then I actually went straight to the manufacturer's website ... and I found an equally good price there, all with free shipping."

That kind of price shopping and free shipping is forcing profit margins down for retailers, says analyst Drbul. But he expects a strong holiday season nevertheless.

A big reason is that falling gas prices are putting more money in consumers' pockets.

This year, Drbul says, "has the potential to be the best retail performance since 2011."

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