“Mum and Dad brought us up to be crazy close so there’s definitely not a favourite but we’ve got this running, like group chat with just the brothers. And it’s horrendous. We could never show it to the public [laughs],” Chris shared.
“We’re all crazy close and we all like the same stuff - we’re obsessed with sport. We love to cook so every Sebastian brother has like a specialty as far as food goes. At Christmas time, Mum's doing the curry and we’re doing everything else. So the dynamics are awesome. I love my brothers. They’re definitely my closest friends.”
Chris added that he and his siblings' passion for sport and food is something that rears its head over the festive season – and it’s something he’s looking forward to again this year.
“Our traditions, they’re real 'boy' ones. A massive one – because there’s four Sebastian brothers, and all the extended cousins and everything – we all play cricket over Christmas and then we’ll watch the Boxing Day test over Christmas. Without a doubt, that’s the most consistent tradition!” Chris said.
“But it’s also the weird Sebastian spread over Christmas. For the Sebastians, it’s the strangest mix of like roast turkey and then a chicken curry next to it and like Malaysian noodles on the other side of it. It’s the strangest, strangest smorgasbord of food. It’s amazing! But culturally, it’s just the strangest mix.”
The holiday period takes on an even more special significance for Chris this year after he and wife Tash welcomed daughter Ava in March. Her arrival followed heartbreak for the couple after Tash suffered a miscarriage in 2018.
Describing Christmas this year as being an “extra special one”, Chris said life has changed “dramatically” since becoming a father – and he’s loving every second of it.
“Right now it’s the greatest because she is obsessed with me. For the last kind of six to seven months, it’s been ‘mum’ everything,” he gushed.
“But now, I don't know what has changed – and I've always been obsessed with her – so I don’t know what’s changed but she just wants me for everything now. Like the second I walk into a room, she just beams and laughs and straightaway smiles.”
Chris said he’s now entered “dad mode” and is constantly on high alert for danger around Ava.
“I’ve just become this protective ball of safety. Like picking up everything in the house that can be dangerous – just the way your brain works after having a kid, it’s just protection mode,” he said.
“But for Christmas, this year I’m doing Carols in the Domain so I’ll miss Christmas Eve which is devastating. But I’m on the first flight Christmas morning back to Christmas in Adelaide.”
