home for Christmas
Annika Kaban’s Christmas traditions are a self-confessed ‘mixed bag’, with every second year spent with husband Tom’s family in Adelaide, a plane ride away. “We almost always pay extra for luggage for the presents!” she says. Alternate years are spent in Sydney with Annika’s family, where her Italian mum serves lasagna or pasta over baked ham and sends everyone off for a snooze. Her Ukrainian father follows the Julian calendar for an Orthodox Christmas on January 7, filled with dumplings, borscht and stuffed cabbage. This year will be Annika and Tom’s first in their new home, and they’re looking forward to opening presents with sons Henry and Archer. “To see the joy on their faces will be priceless. At such a tough time in our lives, simple pleasures mean the world!”
