‘We changed the date’: Seven well-known Australians share their Christmas secrets
By Jane Rocca
From classic carols to nostalgic dishes, Christmas taps into childhood memories. Here, seven prominent Australians share the traditions they maintain, and their secrets to a smooth silly season.
Myf Warhurst, Spicks and Specks team captain
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For big families like ours, it’s often a struggle to get everyone together, a complicated jigsaw that involves multiple families and multiple obligations. So we think we’ve come up with the ultimate Christmas hack by simply changing the day we celebrate. It’s genius!
The Warhurst side of the family now gather a few days before Christmas at a restaurant in Aireys Inlet, Victoria, near my folks’ place; last year we went to A La Grecque on the Great Ocean Road and had a gorgeous Greek feast. Because the Christmas rush hasn’t hit, it’s easy to get a booking and there’s no pressure for anyone to host or cook. By simply changing the date, our family Christmas is one where we actually get to sit down and genuinely enjoy each other’s company, which is rare. I highly recommend it. Your stress levels will thank me later.
Magdalena Roze, cookbook author
Every year we spend Christmas Eve, which we call Wigilia, with my Polish family – it’s always a big deal and part of our tradition. My mother cooks 12 Polish fish and vegetarian dishes, and we break holy bread with one another, sending best wishes for the year ahead.
There are dishes that generally only make an appearance at Christmas such as mushroom and cabbage pierogi [dumplings], cheese and potato pierogi, and beetroot soup. I try to arrive with a relatively empty stomach. The food can be quite heavy for an Aussie summer, but it never changes, no matter the weather. As a child, we’d gather with other Polish families and go for a walk after Wigilia, waiting for the first star to come out. Once it did, we would go to the big communal pool, where Santa would be waiting with a big sack of presents and all the kids would line up to receive a gift.
This year, we’ll celebrate Polish Christmas Eve, and then have Christmas Day with any friends who might not have family around. We have seafood, chicken, champagne and pavlova. My restaurateur partner, Darren Robertson, makes the mains, I’m on desserts and the kids make gingerbread cookies.
Sarah Abo, Today host
I come to Melbourne for Christmas every year. Last year, I hosted [Nine’s] Carols by Candlelight for the first time, and this year I’ll be doing it again [Nine is the owner of this masthead].
For me, Christmas is all about family. As a child, my parents would host a big Syrian shindig on Christmas Eve at their place, and invite 50 people over, including family friends. We’d always hand out presents at midnight. The food lasted for days; a big Middle Eastern feast.
Christmas Eve now happens a few days earlier because of my Carols by Candlelight commitments, and Christmas Day is a more intimate affair. Me, my husband, my two younger sisters and their children all gather at my parents’ house, and we do Kris Kringle gifts so you don’t have to buy for everyone. Christmas is a time to be grateful about being surrounded by loved ones.
Silvia Colloca, cook and presenter
Credit: Christopher Ferguson
My parents are coming from Italy this Christmas. They last visited just before COVID, so it’ll be really special. And my husband, [actor] Richard Roxburgh, has a big family of 30 people, so it’s always busy. Everybody pitches in.
This year I will be cooking a traditional turkey as well as my mum’s legendary lasagne – it’s been part of the family tradition for four generations. We also eat panettone every day from November in our household. And I like to make traditional Italian almond cookies in various incarnations – they make the best edible gifts.
We celebrate Christmas Eve with immediate family. We like to see the lights and decorations, then watch a Christmas movie – it’s always the same one, the original Scrooge [1935] – before a simple dinner of prawn rolls, fish carpaccio and oysters. We do the secret Santa as well, but the naughty version where we steal each other’s gifts – it gets very competitive.
Adam Liaw, The Cook Up host
Credit: Hugh O’Brien
I grew up in Adelaide, and we celebrate at Dad’s house there. For us, Christmas is a big affair. We usually have 50 people at the table, and this year will be even bigger – my brothers and sisters live overseas and they’ll be back for it. I usually do about 50 per cent of the cooking – no surprises there. The main centrepiece is a full-leg ham, I’ll cook a whole salmon, and there are always pavlovas.
When it comes to traditions, I’ve never been an artificial-tree person. I like the smell of a real tree, and we get ours from the local Scouts.
We’ve tried various other traditions over the years, but the only one that’s stuck is the whole fish, which is common at Chinese festivals because it has connotations of luck. I make a Hong Kong “typhoon shelter-style” fish, where the whole fish is covered in coriander, garlic, black beans and spring onions and chilli. I first did that six years ago, and now it’s our ongoing tradition.
Katherine Sabbath, cookbook author
Christmas, my favourite time of year, is a four-day food bender in our family.
We start on Christmas Eve, when the German side of my family celebrate with a decadent dinner of lamb chops crusted with macadamias, buttery Brussels sprouts, creamy potato salad (the hearty German kind, with the bacon fat mixed through), marzipan stollen (sweet German bread made with nuts, fruits and spices) and lots of thick custard.
I’m on dessert duties for the remaining three days of festivities and usually make trays of pavlova (everyone loves a good pav) filled with passionfruit curd and studded with raspberries and ribbons of fresh mango.
On Christmas Day we celebrate with the Vietnamese side of my family – think hot spring rolls, egg noodles tossed with lobster, and spicy papaya salad. Boxing Day is celebrated with my partner Troy’s family; we usually snack on freshly boiled blue swimmer crabs, prawns and leftover ham.
We roll into December 27 with another day of feasting with Troy’s family – it’s definitely a marathon. You can tell that presents are not the main focus of Christmas for our families. For us, the sharing of good food and company are life’s greatest gifts.
Effie Kats, fashion designer
Christmas is the time I get to embrace my inner child. My husband James and I like to really get into the spirit and spend all December watching Christmas movies together. We decorate the house with a theme in mind and James becomes obsessed with finding the perfect tree. I also have a tradition of hunting for new bauble ornaments every year.
Every Christmas Eve, we go to Mum’s house and all watch a movie together. I have a half-sister aged 15 who is very into Christmas, and we wake at 6am on Christmas Day to share the gifts. My stepdad is Scottish and he loves to make us all breakfast.
My husband is Welsh/Croatian. His mum makes a turkey, a Christmas ham and trout, and we go to their place at Martha Cove on the Mornington Peninsula for Christmas lunch, then spend the night there. I see my dad either the day before Christmas Eve or on Boxing Day. It’s a busy juggle!
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