Mark Beretta
It will be a bittersweet festive season for sports anchor Mark and his family this year. He, his wife Rachel and their two kids, Ava, four, and Daniel, 21 months, are flying to the UK for a white Christmas with Rachel’s father – he’s spending his first Christmas without his beloved wife who died earlier this year.

‘He’s a lovely guy and we felt it was important to be with him,’ Mark, 42, says. ‘And the children are excited because there’s a good chance it’ll snow while we’re there.’ 

David Koch
Never a man to do anything by halves, Kochie, 52, declares that his whole family is ‘Christmas nuts’. Even though his four kids are now between 19 and 29, David or his father always read the family the Night Before Christmas story on Christmas Eve. And then there’s the impromptu Kochie family concert.

‘I don’t sing,’ the TV host insists. ‘But once I tried to do a Christmas science experiment that ended with food dye everywhere. My mother went ballistic – I still get in trouble!’

Melissa Doyle
It’s an ongoing festival at Mel’s house in December. Daughter Talia’s birthday is on the 19th – she’ll turn five – so Mel, hubby John and son Nicholas, seven, are in celebration mode well before Santa comes down their chimney.

This year Mel is hosting Christmas, and she’s planning a traditional lunch on the barbecue, then a snooze in the afternoon to sleep off all that food.

‘I can’t wait for the holidays,’ says Mel, 38. ‘I’m looking forward to spending time with the children on the beach.’

Natalie Barr
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, news reader Natalie, husband Andrew and children Lachlan, seven, and Hunter, three, spend a lot of time around their Christmas tree.

‘We have a tradition now to decorate the tree together,’ says Natalie, 40. ‘I’ve saved all the ornaments Lachlan and Hunter made at preschool to hang on the tree every year.

‘It’s not a beautiful tree like the ones in the stores, but it’s beautiful to us because it’s ours,’ she smiles.

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