Robert Trathen
Christmas has always been a special time for the Luxon family, but this year it will be a celebration like no other as the country’s new leader and his wife Amanda welcome their loved ones to Premier House, the Prime Minister’s official residence in Wellington.
Not only will the grand setting be a fitting reminder of Christopher’s meteoric political ascent, but so too will the extra faces around the table – with officers from the diplomatic protection service joining the family for lunch!
“The more the merrier,” says Christopher, welcoming the Weekly into his and Amanda’s Auckland home for a festive photoshoot. “That’s what Christmas is all about – bringing people together.”
And Christmas has certainly arrived at the couple’s stunning home, with a beautiful three-metre tall tree taking pride of place in the dining room. Underneath sits a pile of gifts beautifully wrapped in white and gold.
“It’s fair to say it wasn’t me who did the Christmas shopping this year,” says Christopher, 53, sitting down to chat during a rare break in his schedule. It’s been an intense period for the former Air New Zealand CEO, who was sworn in as New Zealand’s 42nd prime minister on November 27 after vigorous negotiations to form a coalition government with Act and NZ First.
With the National Party leader based in Wellington and former teacher Amanda, 55, remaining at home, the pair have become accustomed to a “ships in the night” way of life since Christopher entered politics three years ago. But they’re counting down the days till they can finally relax together with their loved ones over the Christmas and New Year break.
On December 25, they’ll welcome about 25 family members into their new Wellington base, with both sets of parents travelling from Christchurch, and their siblings, partners, nieces and nephews arriving from various parts of the country too. Christopher and Amanda’s daughter Olivia, 22, will be flying in from her home in Melbourne, while son William, 24, will join later in the day after his shift as an Air NZ flight attendant ends.
With coalition partners Winston Peters and David Seymour.
With Michael Bublé’s Christmas hits likely to be blaring in the background, Christopher and Amanda will share the cooking duties, creating a dinner of roast turkey, lamb, glazed ham, an array of salads, fresh peas that the family have podded the night before, and the couple’s famous roast potatoes. “The secret is boiling them first, then scuffing them up a bit and rolling in olive oil so they’re crunchy and delicious,” says Amanda. Dessert will be a traditional trifle, a pavlova, Christmas pudding with custard, and oodles of fresh fruit and berries. While Christopher and Amanda don’t drink, they’ll be raising a non-alcoholic toast and thanking all those who have supported them during this life-changing year.
“You don’t enter into this job unless you’ve got a really good family unit around you,” says Christopher. “Amanda, William and Olivia have been fantastic, and the extended family as well. So that’s what I’m really looking forward to about Christmas, just a chance to catch up, thank everyone and shoot the breeze with different family members. Christmas is a season where, among the busy-ness and festivities, Amanda and I always take some time to feel grateful.”
After lunch, the family will head outdoors for some backyard cricket, before congregating for the all-important gift-giving ceremony. Each year, they run a Secret Santa, with guests allocated one person to buy for. The usual $50 limit has been upped to $80 this year. “That’s inflation for you,” says Christopher, with a smile. “Hopefully, we can get it back down to $50 next Christmas.”
In January, the couple celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.
And as a tribute to Amanda and Christopher’s niece Kimberley, who sadly passed away aged 26 in 2018 from cystic fibrosis, the family will play a fun gifting game that she introduced the Christmas before she died.
Amanda explains, “It’s quite a beautiful tradition and such a nice way to remember Kimberley. You put a whole lot of very random, inexpensive funny gifts in the middle of a circle, and then everyone takes a number. Person number one gets to choose a parcel. They open it up and then person two does the same. They get to either keep it or steal the first person’s present. It goes around the circle like this and it’s a lot of fun as people decide whether to take someone else’s present.”
Traditions are important to the Luxons, who note that as well as the ones that have been passed down through the generations, they enjoy creating new ones too. A relatively recent habit has been to don matching festive pyjamas on Christmas Eve before settling down to watch the movie Love Actually. “Christopher loves that one!” jokes Amanda.
The silly season’s the perfect time to get in sync with kids Olivia and William.
The Luxon children might be in their 20s now, but they still hang a stocking each year. Santa’s gifts have changed over the years though, note their parents. “It used to be cans of soda and little treats like that, now it’s essentials like towels or a spatula.”
While the former ballet dancer has taken the lead on shopping this year due to her husband’s hectic political schedule, she recalls a Christmas years ago in Chicago when devoted dad Christopher queued in the snow outside a store from 4am to secure the new Nintendo Wii for the kids. “I was determined not to miss out,” he explains.
During their almost-20 years living abroad, the Luxons always left the cold of the Northern Hemisphere to return to Aotearoa for Christmas (bar one, when Olivia, a December baby, was born in London in 2001). They looked forward to the annual homecoming all year, with their holidays spent at the Duvauchelle campground near Akaroa.
“We have such wonderful memories of those summers,” says Christopher, who loved getting his beloved 1966 Riley Elf Mini out of storage to cruise around Christchurch with the windows down. “It was always such a magical feeling stepping off the plane into the New Zealand summer. Everyone was in a really great mood, the weather was good and our parents were there to help look after the children.”
And some of the PM’s happiest childhood memories are from Christmases past. As a boy, the night before the big day would always mean “egg in a cup” for dinner, before the family sat down in front of the telly to see where Santa was in the world. One year, his mum sewed him a new dressing gown, another year, he remembers being given a cowboy hat, a plastic gun and a ukulele.
“Christmas was such a big deal as a kid,” he reflects. “Another year we got a three-foot Para pool, which we had to assemble. It was pretty exciting.”
After Christmas, the Luxons will head to their bach for a week. It’s likely to be a full house, with Olivia, who joins the graduate programme at L’Oréal next year, bringing a bunch of her friends from Australia for New Year’s celebrations. There will be catch-ups with friends and family, barbecues on the deck, boating and plenty of ball sports on the beach. “I’m bound to pull a hamstring by about day three,” laughs Christopher, who admits it’s been harder to fit in daily exercise since taking on the top job.
Amanda is still a little bemused at becoming a social media sensation on election night for her terrifically-toned arms, but she says keeping strong and fit is important to her. She runs 12km a day and lifts light weights, and reassures her husband there will be plenty of time for “active relaxing” during their holiday. “We’ll go for lots of nice beach walks and swims.”
And on January 8, the couple will celebrate a special milestone – their 30th wedding anniversary – before Christopher returns to the all-important business of running the country. He tells the Weekly he knows times are tough for many Kiwis at the moment, but there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful.
“The high cost of living will certainly make Christmas difficult for many this year and that only makes me more determined that the Government will get the economy growing so we can ease inflation, deliver tax relief, and New Zealanders can have more confidence about the future for themselves and their families.
“I genuinely feel very hopeful. We’ve got a great country, we’ve got a tremendous future and what we’re doing as a new government is going to work early to make sure that we can try and solve problems for people. I can’t wait to get into that work for 2024 and beyond. That’s my commitment as Prime Minister of New Zealand.”
