Hayley Sproull

Are you cooking the Christmas feast this year?

We’re doing things a little differently. My mother is the cook in our house – not because she’s the mum, but because she loves to cook and she’s so good at it she should be a chef. But we’re having a family Christmas early because my brother is over from Australia. So we’ll have the big roast on December 16 and on actual Christmas Day, we are going to keep it chill – French toast for brunch, barbecue at 3pm, Champagne all day long. I’ll be in charge of drinks.

Fruit cake’s not for everyone. What are your thoughts – is there better Christmas baking? Get. It. Away. From. Me. Christmas pudding in our house is homemade ice cream (a secret family recipe) and brandy snaps. Or caramelised bananas on the barbecue. Or Mum’s panettone bread and butter pudding. Anything but Christmas fruit cake!

Have you already bought your presents or will you be tearing around on Christmas Eve?

I’m a notoriously late shopper, but this year my partner Aaron has taken charge and we’ve done quite well. I’ve been overseas so a lot of people are getting gifts from Oman. No late-night Warehouse for us – though the chaos of last-minute Christmas shopping is so much fun for me. Talk about adrenaline! You wouldn’t want to get in my way. Does your family buy gifts for everyone or do you have some sort of system?

My immediate family does gifts for everyone because we’re quite small – Mum and Dad, me and Aaron, my brother Sam and his partner Nina, and my granddad Gary. That’s it! But I do a secret Santa with Aaron’s family – you get one person to buy for because there’s 12 of us, then you have to guess who bought for you that year. Some years, we’ll also do a Greedy Santa, which can get pretty violent. What’s the best and worst present you ever received?

Best present – my parents still do Santa sacks for me and my brother. They’ve been doing it for more than 30 years, and they’re always filled with small goodies and I still feel just as excited now as I did when I was a kid. That, or Barbie Fold ’n’ Fun House. Worst present? A terrible sunburn.

What’s your favourite childhood Christmas memory? Every childhood, Christmas was magical. But my favourite memory was the last Christmas I spent with my grandfather before he passed away. He wasn’t an emotional guy and was quite a hard man. But one Christmas, he just pulled out this harmonica and started playing it and he was amazing! Like, really amazing. And we all just sat in the sun and listened to him play.

What’s the best thing about Christmas for you?

Drinking from 11am with family. Will you be making any New Year’s resolutions?

Prioritise my time for the people I love. And maybe don’t drink wine every night!