Traditionally, Bendigo Spirit import Marte Grays spends Christmas Day in the snow with family and friends at home in Michigan.
It was somewhat of a culture shock for Grays to experience her first Aussie Christmas this week.
Grays was not a fan of the scorching temperature, but she did find a traditional Australian Christmas treat to her liking.
"I tried a new desert. Is pav how you say it?'' Grays said with a smile.
"Oh, it was really good. I'd never had it before. The whipped cream with strawberries and berries...it was so good and so airy.
"I enjoyed my first Christmas here. Great food and we watched some Christmas movies. It was a lot of fun."
Some festive cheer is just what Grays and her Spirit team-mates needed on the back of nine-straight losses in the WNBL.
The Spirit (2-12) return to the court at Bendigo Stadium on Saturday night against the Townsville Fire (3-9), who sit one place above Bendigo on the ladder.
"The break was good for us to get our minds and bodies right,'' Grays said.
"What I like most about this group is that we never stop trying to be our best.
"Everyone is willing to learn and we're trying to respond as hard as we can."
The Spirit have put together patches of basketball that's as good as any team in the competition.
Frustratingly for the players and coaching staff, they've been unable to do it for long enough often enough and that's why they haven't won for the best part of two months.
"We're good enough to win...we need to execute (more consistently),'' Grays said.
"We need to find a way to win one of these close games. We're having patches in the third or fourth quarter that hurt us.
"If we can put it together for four quarters then we'll win the game."
The Spirit trained hard on Boxing Day evening and Grays said there was a good feeling in the group heading into the clash with Townsville.
"We did a lot of scrimmage five-on-five work,'' Grays said.
"We worked through our sets and learned some things we can do differently in a game to help us win those close games."
Saturday night's Spirit versus Fire clash tips-off at 7pm.
The Spirit's following match is also at home against the Canberra Capitals on January 3.
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