Carly Flynn & Freddie

Freddie Flynn might be less than a year old, but he’s holding the fate of the family Christmas in his wee chubby hands. It all comes down to just how mobile he’s going to be by the time the 25th rolls around, laughs his mother, RadioLive host and lifestyle guru Carly Flynn. “Whether he’s sitting there with his baubles, or trying to pull everything down from the tree, and eating all the wrapping paper… that will decide the kind of Christmas we’re having.” This time last year, Carly, 39, her husband Dave and their two children, Tilly, seven, and Jude, five, were excited by the prospect of another child joining the tight-knit family. “We were camping with my brother and sister-in-law at Mangawhai, wondering what next Christmas would bring, not knowing who would be joining us,” Carly says. “And we’re delighted it’s Freddie [who was born in March]. He’s such a lovely chubby bubby, a happy little thing.” There are a lot of young children in the extended family now – “It’s suddenly gone from zero to an explosion of kids!” – and the festive season is “a melting pot” of both old traditions – a Christmas Day beach picnic, the Fijian fish dish kokoda as an entrée – with new annual activities. The Flynn’s Auckland neighbourhood has a festive spirit all of its own; the family walk to pick up their Christmas tree from the nearby stand, and the local Tongan church holds a Christmas Eve service that’s particularly special for Carly. “It’s something I cry at,” she says. “Because we’ve got South Pacific history in our family, with growing up in Rarotonga, and my nan being from Fiji, I’m really spoiled that even though we don’t live in either of those places, we’ve got the Tongan church community in our neighbourhood.”