Celebrating the Reason for the Season with the Hope Team

How will you spend Christmas Day?

Dwayne: Trying to recover from the 4:30 am start!  Two kids under 10

Laura: In my PJ’s all day!, … after a mandatory sleep in, special breakfast with the family and presents, and then off to my Grandparents for lunch before coming into the studio to spend the evening with you!

Ray: We generally have a big combined family event which is generally quite large, lots of food on a big table to pick at !

Katrina: This year I’ll be in Dubbo for Christmas with my hubby’s family.  There will be 9 kids under eight, four married couples and my husband’s parents.

Aaron: Christmas breakfast with Dan on Hope 103.2! For the rest of the day I will be hanging out with my family celebrating the birth of Jesus and trying to encourage my kids to like ham, turkey, pudding, and all the other Christmas foods that they turn their noses up at. Chips and Nuggets are not a Christmas food!

Do you like carols, and if yes, what is your favourite?

Dwayne: Love the massive scale of ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo’

Laura: I love carols, even more when Michael Buble’s singing them.

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Ray: Not a big fan, too much mention of snow for my liking.

Katrina: I do like carols.  Love ‘em.  Little Drummer Boy is quite possibly my fave.  Away in a Manger makes for the best lullaby though.  Also a fan of Silent Night, Joy to the World and O Come All Ye Faithful.

Aaron: One? Don’t be ridiculous … Silent Night is a standout from the traditional repertoire, ‘This Christmas’ from Kelly Rowland’s Christmas album last year, Harry Connick JR ‘I Pray On Christmas’ from a few years ago, ‘Joy To The World’ Aretha Franklin, and Israel & New Breed’s Christmas album ‘A Timeless Christmas’.

Do you have any special Christmas traditions?

Dwayne: One of my favourite times of the season is heading to the shops with the kids to get something for someone we don’t know and leaving it under Charity giving tree.  (Love the Christmas shoe boxes too).

Laura: Breakfast and presents with the family has become a fairly traditional norm. We also like to invite anyone and everyone over in the afternoon or evening to eat leftovers and watch movies or (cheat at) Boardgames.

Ray: We didn’t really have any so I appropriated one from Germany called The Christmas Pickle It’s an old tradition where a pickle ornament is hidden on the Christmas tree. The first person to find the pickle among all the other ornaments gets an extra present on Christmas. Last year I had everybody in stiches because the extra present was a jar of Pickles! Haha Crazy times

Katrina: Our Christmas traditions are: 1) only open one present each before church  2) we all put in for a Tear Useful Gift each year, 3) we hand out each gift one at a time with a kiss and cuddle (this can take all day), 4) W usually serve lunch at about 2.30 in the arvo with Dad making a big performance about the carving, 5) we always have a toast to absent friends, 6)  spend the afternoon laying about on the floor falling asleep and 7) we phone my aunt in England at the end of the day.  Then we eat the leftovers for dinner.

Aaron: Each of my children buying a new Christmas decoration each year was a good idea at the time… Now we just have a cluttered and waning tree with cheap junk shop toys hanging off it!

What is the meaning of Christmas to you?

Dwayne: It’s the best beginning story ever.  The more I try to capture the divine audacity of ‘shrinking’ the creator of everything into the form an utterly dependent vulnerable baby wrapped in rags… the more I am in awe.

Laura: To me it’s an occasion to celebrate Christ and God’s goodness. And reflect on everything He’s done, and just how amazing it is that we can know Him, experience His love, and live knowing that He holds our future in His hands. It’s a time to take pause, enjoy friends and family, and simply say ‘Thanks’.

Ray: We can truly be happy at Christmas! No matter what may be happening, we can know that we are His children. We then become sons and daughters of God. Heaven will be our home one day.

Katrina: The meaning of Christmas is to spend time with loved ones and be grateful for a loving God and all his good gifts.

Aaron: Remembering and reflecting on God’s immense and universe changing love for us – despite our rejection of him – shown through the birth and works of his Son Jesus Christ.