The holidays are easily the best time of the year – a time to spend with family and friends, something we haven’t been able to do very often as of late.
WATCH BELOW: Christmas with Sarah Harris
The chance to spend this Christmas outside of lockdown is a joy we’re all undoubtedly very grateful for, including Studio 10 host Sarah Harris, who is still adjusting to life getting busy again.
“The countdown is well and truly on,” Sarah exclusively tells New Idea. “Everything is crazy again, it’s like we’ve forgotten that we’ve been in lockdown and everyone’s just back to their normal life.”
Like many Aussies who have spent the last two years in and out of lockdown, Sarah is excited to finally be out and to celebrate Christmas with friends and family, while also getting “a bit festive this year”.
“We all deserve it – it’s been a heck of a couple of years, thanks to the pandemic,” she says.
Divvying up her time between “journeying around” to her family spread across Sydney on Christmas day, Sarah will also be celebrating with her two sons, Harry and Paul, where they’ll do the opening of the presents in the morning together.
The trio have already begun to make memories ahead of the big day, including picking out their fresh tree – which turned out to be quite the trip.
“We grabbed our fresh tree last weekend, which was all sorts of hilarious,” Sarah says.
“I stuffed it into my little Suzuki Vitara and had the kids in the back and that was sort of like ‘mum, this tree, the pine needles it’s kind of scratchy’. I’m like, look, it’s a 20-minute drive alright kids,” she laughs.
It’ll be a busy month for the mum-of-two, who shares her two boys with ex-husband Tom Ward, with both their birthdays in December, but she’s well-prepared on all fronts.
“I have to be super organised and it always seems to be the case that at the end of the year, things just get pretty hectic,” she admits.
While she’s mostly done, there’s “just a couple little bits and pieces” she needs to get, but otherwise, she’s “pretty sorted this year”.
“I even got the batteries – I’m ready to roll. Hand me an eggnog, I’m done,” the 40-year-old jokes.
Something that also has Sarah excited this year is the release of Christmas With The Australian Women’s Weekly, where she’ll host the likes of Jessica Rowe, Courtney Act, and Miguel Maestre as they share their tips and tricks for the holidays.
“They’re just really easy tips and tricks to help you have a Merry Christmas, make it a bit fancy, but it’s not a huge amount of energy for you to expend – you don’t have to spend weeks and weeks getting ready for Christmas,” Sarah says.
Miguel has everyone covered on the food front with an “idiot-proof” Turkey that won’t dry out, and decorations will be sorted by Jess who’ll have a bit of crafting time with Sarah, which she says was “an absolute hoot”.
“I did more laughing than crafting, but some great little ideas and great things to keep the kids busy as well because they like to help,” Sarah says.
With Christmas coming up and 2022 on the horizon, Sarah says she’s keeping her expectations low for the New Year and is just going to “go with the flow”.
“The last couple of years during the pandemic has taught me that as much as you try, as much as you want to plan, you can’t really control what happens in life,” she says. “But you can control how you deal with it and your reaction to it.”
What she knows for sure, however, is that she’ll have plenty of milestones to celebrate with her family, especially with her boys, with her eldest son Paul heading off to kindergarten.
“I’ve got my little boy, my five-year-old, going to big school next year, which is very exciting and daunting. And I’m sure there’s going to be many tears.”
The trio are still in the phase of building new traditions together, with the kids still a little too small to really get involved, but they still find ways to make the festive period special.
“We’re in the process of building our traditions and it’s lovely,” Sarah says.
“The kids bring home their decorations from [daycare] and we bring them out every year and put them back on and see how much the kids have grown.”
Sarah will also be sitting down with her boys to watch the Christmas special as it airs this Thursday, which will make it all the more meaningful.
Christmas With The Australian Women’s Weekly airs Thursday, 9 December at 7.30pm on 10 and 10 Play On Demand.
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