What does Christmas mean to you?

Jackie Barker

IN THE COVE

I love the festive season! My middle name is Noelle and I was supposed to be born on Christmas Day (but did not arrive until the next year).

Our family loves to give gifts. In fact, my sister, Vivienne, is Australia’s gift-wrapping expert. We write witty comments on our gift cards and then there is a vote at the end for best gift tag, best wrapped gift and best gift. There are four children in our family and we live all over Australia - for some reason we all end up giving Mum the same thing!

For me, it doesn’t feel like Christmas unless we have a fresh Christmas tree from the Scouts, with the smell of pine needles wafting through the air.

Chris Butters, LANE COVE’S

CITIZEN OF THE YEAR 2017

For me, it doesn't feel like Christmas until I've attend Handel's Messiah in the Sydney Town Hall. I have loved this beautiful Oratorio since I was a teenager.

On Christmas Day, Ian and I attend church and then celebrate Christmas at home with my immediate family. This is now special because we have a granddaughter Lillian (pictured), who exudes the joy and excitement of Christmas as only a child can do.

On Boxing Day, we join with over 50 of our extended family and Kris Kringle is divided among the generations, creating much laughter and exchanges.

Scott Sloan

SLOANS OF LANE COVE

This year, I’m stepping away from my usual Christmas spent in rural NSW with its 40-degree heat, and will be heading to Europe to try for the ultimate ‘White Christmas’ in Austria with my partner Andy and close friends. We will be celebrating the European way - on Christmas Eve - then waking Christmas morning for a few early morning ski runs.

Christmas has always been a big deal with my family, with Mum and Dad going all out with an abundance of Christmas presents piled around the tree.

I think the food is always the thing that I remember about Christmas’s past. My grandma was a great country cook and everything she made in her wood fuel oven tasted so good! There was always something special about her trifle - she said her secret ingredient was love and I think she was right!

Bern the Chef

CATERER EXTRAORDINAIRE!

I spend Christmas basting ham and turkeys, and packing Christmas feasts. I have Dean Martin blaring, reindeer ears on, and I love delivering on Christmas morning.

In the afternoon, I’ll get together with friends to enjoy crunchy iceberg lettuce and chilled peaches. I’m a little over fancy food, but I’ll still eat gingerbread!

My favourite Christmas memory is of my Granny, who made lots of Christmas cakes every year. From when I was about eight, I helped with layers of brown paper and peeling the skins off almonds - I was in awe of her strong mixing arms!

Have yourself a Merry Little Christ mas...

How will you be spending this Christmas?

Mark Casiglia

APPLE DENTAL

This year, we will be hosting our families on both sides for a Christmas lunch. We’re happy hosting because it allows our kids to relax at home and enjoy their gifts. Michelle and I start early, getting prepared - it takes a few hours but it’s worth it to be at home and have everybody together.

When the kids were younger, we used to go to the Wiggles Christmas concert every year. Good times and I’m not sure who loved it more - myself or my kids. I used to see the Wiggles when they were the Cockroaches, so they held a special place for me.

Have yourself a Merry Little Christ mas...

We asked a range of Lane Cove identities about how they will be celebrating this most magical time of the year.

Joyce Aimond

BAKERS DELIGHT LANE COVE

A favourite Christmas memory is from when I lived in India, walking in the freezing cold to church for the open-air midnight service surrounded by family and friends. We huddled near the big fires to keep us warm, and then had celebratory cake, wine or coffee when we arrived home in the early hours of the morning.

A family tradition from India which we carry on here is visiting neighbours, friends and family and taking a plate of homemade goodies, including fruit cake, kulkuls, rose cookies, milk toffee and fudge.

We will be trading until Christmas Eve, so I will spend time with my bakery family and our lovely customers, making sure they have all their breads for Christmas, before celebrating with my own family and friends.

Pam Palmer

MAYOR OF LANE COVE

We are a small family, so always enjoy participating in some communitybased events to heighten that special excitement of Christmas.

The festivities begin with our street’s Christmas Party. This has been a regular occurrence for the past 22 years, and it has been wonderful observing all the local children as they grow up.

However, the highlight must be on Christmas morning when at precisely 8am, Santa finds time to come to Greenwich…by boat! Santa brings presents which his ‘elves’ distribute to the local children. It’s a lovely chance to catch up with neighbours, and to relax and enjoy that wonderful happiness of family and friends which I feel so privileged to have.

Trent Gardiner

LANE COVE THEATRE COMPANY

Adrienne Witteman,

TRENDSETTER TRAVEL

Simon Harrison

BELLE PROPERTY LANE COVE

We will be spending Christmas My day starts relatively relaxed, with a overseas this year. We are flying out to 2-ish start allowing plenty of time for the USA on Christmas Eve and will be an easy breakfast and then a morning of spending Christmas with our extended chopping and cutting, making sauces and family in California. Our family is all the prep work to ensure a great meal. expanding and we are expecting a new Our daughter Bridget sets the table - arrival early in January 2018. her favourite task and a job she does

Christmas has always been a special with aplomb. Then it’s time to open the time and we will enjoy spending it with presents, shriek over the wild socks and our family and friends before making new lust over the latest cookbook that might Christmas memories with the arrival of get read but not used. our second child. The guests then arrive with the seafood entrée, the Christmas pudding and pav. Time for a celebratory champagne toast and our merry day begins!

My favourite Christmas memory is as a kid, spending Christmas Day and all the holidays with my grandparents and cousins on the beach at Port Stephens. Very happy memories. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Days are always a big celebration with extended family and friends. This year we will be spending Christmas at home with family and loved ones - it’s our turn to host with 45 guests! Christmas Eve will be an intimate dinner with my wife before the big festivities begin. Jess Goodman Lili Miconi Simon Harrison Melissa Huang/ George Gialouris

Lyndall McNally LANE COVE

YOUTH ORCHESTRA

For me, it doesn’t feel like Christmas unless the house is chaotic and there is the smell of roast turkey. If I’m in charge, there’s always music – the kind that everyone has to help create at the Christmas table with tuned hand bells, whistles, xylophones and voices, of course!

I’m looking forward to the lighting of the Christmas Tree in the Plaza on 8th December, which features a performance by LCYO. It is local events like this that help perpetuate our ‘village’ atmosphere and build a great sense of community.

Pamela Fairburn

ARTIST

Christmas is a magical time of the year. I love catching up with friends and family. I love how it is a time of Peace and Joy, and remembering less fortunate people of the world.

For Christmas day, we usually have a large get-together. It’s noisy and chaotic but lots of fun and we love it that way. Silly paper hats are worn, and during lunch the competition is on for the worst printed joke found in the Christmas bonbons!

As an artist, my Christmas wouldn’t be the same without the sky blue and white agapanthus flowers growing in our gardens and parks - a reminder of the Star of Bethlehem.

Kellie Rigney

ZJOOSH

A few years ago, we began a tradition of having a quiet dinner with the kids at home on Christmas Eve. We write our goals for the coming year in a little red leather book and have a good laugh at past entries.

This year Wayne and I will be spending Christmas at home with the kids, extended family and our neighbours. Lots of pressies and ham and eggs for breakfast. Lunch is usually a combination of seafood and the traditional Christmas turkey with all the trimmings.

One of my favourite Christmas memories was being proposed to on Christmas morning in London while it was snowing outside.

Gill Batt

SYDNEY COMMUNITY SERVICES

I am the youngest of six girls, so Christmas was huge in our house. On Christmas Eve we pinned our stockings with our name to the sofa or an armchair. In the morning, we gathered on the landing and when everyone was up, we would send Daddy down to make sure Father Christmas had left so we could go down to the living room which was amazing with piles of presents.

When I married we had three boys and we borrowed some traditions and made some of our own. Every year on Christmas Eve we put out the carrots, mince pie and sherry for Father Christmas, lit a special candle my son decorated in playgroup and sang Jingle Bells.

Jocelyn Biddle

THE VILLAGE OBSERVER

With all our family living interstate, the festive season for us usually entails a trip across the Nullarbor to catch up with loved ones in the south-west of WA.

Christmas wouldn’t be the same without temperatures over 35 degrees; Mum’s phenomenal trifle; Nan’s hand patchworked Christmas stockings; listening to the kids whispering to each other excitedly as they discover gifts underneath the tree; listening to Bing Crosby’s ‘I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas’; someone knocking over the beetroot on the white linen tablecloth, and the smell of peppermint trees at the beach when we all go to cool off after a day of indulgence and merriment.

Jane Moran

LANE COVE DANCE ACADEMY

It doesn’t feel like Christmas unless Lane Cove Dance Academy’s annual concert is done and dusted. It’s the best, most exciting time of my dance year with a month full of photo days, rehearsals and performances. Lots of fun and creativity from both teachers and students culminate in a huge weekend of performances at the beginning of December.

Once this whirlwind is over for another year, I definitely know it’s Christmas!

After a wonderfully busy year, I’m feeling like home is the best place to be, so I will be spending Christmas in Sydney with family and friends.