Home And Away Cast Christmas Plans

[chelsjo]

Jodi Gordon (Martha)

What's your best memory of Christmas growing up?

My dad and mum have big families, so when I was 10 or 11 and we had nearly all our family together is one the of the best Christmas memories. Dad is one of 11 so, as you can imagine, when they all came together, there were so many people and lots of food.

What do you want for Christmas?

Happiness, laughter, fun and love!

Where are you spending your holidays?

Here and overseas with lots of friends and family.

Do you have a New Year's resolution?

I'm sure it will change a million times, but maybe to look after myself more health-wise.

Christie Hayes (Kirsty)

What are you doing for Christmas?

Christmas Day, I like to go to church to celebrate the birth of Christ in the morning. It's a nice way to start the day. We always get up early. We do presents under the Christmas tree, which is my favourite part of the day because I get really excited about present opening. I have a small family, so it's very simple. It'll be a nice beachy day spending time with those closest to me.

What do you want for Christmas?

I want something electronic. I'd love an iPhone from Santa. I would also love beautiful weather, nice food, happy people and a really nice card from my husband — a lengthy, wordy card.

Have you ever had any Christmas mishaps?

I'm really bad at decorating the Christmas tree. I do try. I always had plastic trees growing up, so I'm not used to the real ones. I always have lights on and leave them on overnight and nearly start a fire. I once got a star, but it didn't fit the top of the tree. There are always these little mistakes going on.

What's the best gift to get someone if you're not sure what they'll like?

All girls like something pretty like a candle or jewelry, or I give my friends or sisters a nice dress. Boys they love their toys, so I think if you want to impress a man, get him a PlayStation game.

What's the secret to a top Christmas?

My secret to a perfect Christmas dinner is to get my husband to cook. He does turkey, salads, croissants for breakfast — the whole thing.

Ada Nicodemou (Leah)

What will you be getting up to on Christmas Day?

It's just like everyone else — the usual family stuff where you go visit both sides of the family, but this year we've got Christmas at our house, so it's all very exciting. Because my husband Chrys doesn't have the restaurant this year, we thought it was a good opportunity to have everyone over. It's going to be big being a European family — about 50 or 60 people. I've got to go buy a Christmas tree because I haven't got any of that. It'll be nice to have it at home.

What's the secret to pulling off Christmas at your place?

Obviously, food and drinks. The food is not my department at all. I want to make sure everything looks pretty. I'm the organised one. I'll get everything together and invite everyone. Chrys will do the cooking and then I'll do the boring cleaning at the end. Keep the food flowing and keep the drinks flowing. We've got a massive backyard, so I wouldn't mind having a game of soccer or cricket just to bring it back to what you did when you were kids.

What's your best memory of Christmas growing up?

A good one was when my mum, my brother and I went up to Queensland — just the three of us, we'd never done that before. We spent the day on the beach and it was just so nice. It was so exciting for Costa and I because we got to stay in a hotel and play in the sand.

What's the best gift to get someone if you're not sure what they'll like?

For girls, if you don't know someone, I always like giving body butter or scented candles — you can never go wrong. For a guy, a cologne or a bottle of alcohol if I don't know them well.

What would you get Leah for Christmas?

It would have to be some sort of cooking thing. I'd get her a facial. She needs a bit of pampering. She's got a hard life. Poor thing.

Conrad Coleby (Roman)

What's your best memory of Christmas growing up?

One Christmas, we did this silly family photo. We got all my dad's and my mum's spectacles, and we had a couple of pairs each and lined them up on the table and took this ridiculous photo of us all standing behind the table so our eyes are the size of frogs'! It's a great photograph. Another time, my dad dressed up as Santa Claus. He used this shag pile rug and stuck that round his face. When my friend and I came home, he came off the roof and gave us these paper glider planes and we played with them all afternoon. I knew it was him, but I just went along with it so he didn't think it was all in vain.

Have you ever had a disappointing Christmas?

The only time Christmas has been tough is when I haven't been able to go. That's a bit sad to be on your own at Christmas. It's about catching up with family. When you have a busy lifestyle, sometimes it's the only time of the year you get to see everybody in your family.

What's a good gift to get someone if you're not sure what to get?

If you're stuck for a present, it's always nice to give someone some nice perfume or I got my parents nice robes last year. My dad wears his every time he's having a cup of tea, so that was a good pressie — comfort presents are always good. People don't always think of things for themselves like that.

What do you usually get for your family?

As a family, we group together on gifts or sometimes give gifts of art. I'll paint a picture or my dad will paint something for me. My mum often makes jumpers and clothing for us. That's always nice to get something much more personal and it doesn't always have to cost money to do something for each other. I get handmade things from my Swedish grandmother sometimes — woolly scarves and socks — and she's right on the money with fashion. It's quite cool. She knitted me a very funky scarf one year.

Josh Quong Tart (Miles)

What do you do on Christmas Day?

I usually have big kick-ass Christmas parties, but Christmas Day it's family and friends who come over. It's scattered. Friends drop by in the day and into the night, and we might go off to the beach. It's always good to have the beach involved somewhere along the line throughout the day.

What gifts do you like to buy?

I like to buy lights for girlfriends and I also like giving DVDs. I tend to go OTT.

Is it wise to go OTT with presents?

Restraint is really important, which I don't really have very much of. Even if you do your shopping in one day, you can still go crazy. The problem is if you buy your presents too early, you have this feeling like you haven't bought them something at Christmas, so you get them something else.

What's the best part about Christmas?

I loved all those stop-motion Christmas movies like Frosty The Snowman and The Little Drummer Boy. I loved all of that stuff. We caroled at a very young age. I'm not particularly religious, but in a world where there's so much isolation and barriers that people put up, any excuse to reconnect with family, friends and community is important, so I find Christmas fantastic. I don't get into the retail side of it. I get into the other side. I love it all.

Lincoln Lewis (Geoff)

What do you do if you get a dodgy gift from someone at Christmas?

I wouldn't do something to deliberately hurt a person. I'd think they put a bit of thought into it, and I guess you appreciate the thought and smile, say a big thank you, and hope that they're not doing the same thing when they unwrap your present.

What do you get someone if you're not sure exactly what to get?

My sister likes a movie or soundtracks, so I'd buy her DVDs and CDs, but for Mum, an album she was looking forward to and maybe chocolates. Christmas is an excuse to eat whatever you want. For a guy, an album or DVD or sports memorabilia or a set of golf clubs for Dad.

Tessa James (Nicole)

What will you be doing on Christmas Day?

All my family get together. Mostly my mum's side come down from Mt Isa and we have a Christmas buffet full of seafood. Last year we had it at my house. That's about 1 o'clock and we open presents in the morning. I sometimes go to a friend's breakfast.

Is your family well-behaved?

My immediate family are well-behaved at Christmas, but I don't think the rest of them are! They all get a little crazy. Everyone with their drinking and eating. They get out of control, but in a good way.

What ingredients do you need for a good Christmas?

Summer and spending time with your family. Last year I was in London right up until the 22nd of December, so I saw what Christmas would be like there and it'd be great, but it just wouldn't be the same without it being hot.

What do you want for Christmas this year?

All I really wanted was my driver's license and I have that now. I lost my wallet so I'd like a new wallet.

Are you good at shopping for presents?

I'm a late person. I'm the person on Christmas Eve that runs around the shops getting presents. You can't go wrong with wallets, clothes and jewelry. I got my boyfriend skydiving for his birthday, so that was pretty cool. Guys like money and alcohol.

Do you have any Christmas traditions?

We used to get our photo with Santa every year. My sister and I even did it last year. I used to ask for bicycles and CDs and clothes and make-up.

Have you ever had a bad Christmas?

I did the whole sulk thing when I was really little. I never had a tantrum that I can remember, but Mum would probably tell you differently.

Jessica Tovey (Belle)

What do you want for Christmas this year?

I want homey stuff because I've started living on my own in the last couple of years and I never realised how much stuff my family had managed to accumulate that I tend to use, like paintings around the house or vases — stuff you'd never think to buy, but you get really frustrated when you can't find. I've become part of an age that like homey stuff. I'd like to do some travelling, so I need to start stocking up on travelling wares. Christmas has very little to do with presents in my family — it's all the other stuff.

What's the best present you ever got as a kid?

I remember getting Cluedo — it was the best present ever. I played it all Christmas Day and annoyed everyone so much. This is very unlike me, but I used to have a bit of a porcelain doll collection. I'm a really ungirly girl, but that's about as girly as I got and I got this beautiful doll from Santa.

What about the worst?

Every year my mum gets us the ugliest Christmas earrings you've ever seen — Christmas trees or bells. A 4cm Christmas tree with tinsel and glitter and we're supposed to wear them all day — no question. The holly ones itched and were so painful.

When do you usually start planning what to give other people?

The last three years doing this show, you really don't think about Christmas until the week before. They'll probably all get a wonderful bunch of books and tea towels.

Todd Lasance (Aden)

What do you get up to on Christmas Day?

We figure out which house we're going to. In the morning, we do all the present exchanging with our direct family. We have a huge lunch — seafood, like oysters, we sneak some cheeky crabs in there, prawns, hams. We go all out. All of our direct family comes over and then that night we usually go to someone else's house for dinner. It's a two-stage event.

Are your family well-behaved?

What's the definition of well-behaved? Everybody gets pretty loose. It's respectable. It's not out of control. Mum fusses over everyone. It's a really relaxing day.

What do you want for Christmas this year?

I'm not much of a present-receiving person. I'd actually much rather search things out and buy things for other people. I get much more of a thrill out of that. I want to spend time with my closest mates and family — that's what I look forward to. Maybe an Xbox 360... from Lincoln.

What do you buy when you can't decide what to get someone?

For a girl, a surefire guarantee, it's cliché, but it's jewelry. For a guy, something interactive like a Nintendo Wii. It's hard to buy clothes for guys.

What makes for a great Christmas?

The weather. You want your mates around. Good company and awesome weather so you can get outside. It is Christmas spirit outside. If you're not in a good vibe after singing Christmas carols, there's something wrong with you.

http://tvweek.ninemsn.com.au/section.aspx?...ectionname=blog

[champagne_char]

Thanks for posting

[Zetti]

Thanks for these !!

[Lesley Bee]

Great article, thanks

[jenlee]

That was cool, thanks for posting

[-Rhedz-]

This is also on the Official Site.. Well sort of..

[Traceve]

That's so cool the Jess used to collect those dolls because I used to too! I still have 9 chilling around my room on shevles.

[karenp]

Great thanks

[Adelle_fan1000]

Well im happy cause i bought TV week with Todd, jess and Lincoln on the front cover... I had a big grin on my face