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Catriona’s perfect Country Christmas

Catriona Rowntree

Christmas takes on a whole new meaning for Catriona Rowntree, who will celebrate it for the first time with her beautiful bush bub, Andrew.

As Getaway presenter Catriona Rowntree walks into the living room with four-month-old baby Andrew snuggled in her arms, she’s met with a sea of smiles.

“I should have got you to come in and get him up with me,” she tells the admiring Woman’s Day team, who have travelled an hour out of Melbourne to visit Catriona at her stunning rural home.

“He’s just so beautiful when he wakes up; all wide-eyed and smiling. He beams at me every time I walk into the room.”

Andrew certainly is cute. And as he slowly begins to open his eyes wider, newly fed and rested after his midday sleep, it becomes clear he is also one incredibly contented baby.

“He’s so good, and he really is just gorgeous at the moment,” proud dad James Pettit adds, scooping his milk-drunk son from Catriona’s arms and gently patting his back. “He’s only got three different modes: cute, cuter … and asleep!”

As Andrew wakes up properly, he’s met with a scene of busy pre-Christmas preparation. Helping set up for the big day are Catriona’s mother, Heather, and her 97-year-old grandmother, affectionately known to all as Nan.

They’ve driven down from Sydney to spend time with the newest addition to their already-extended family – and they’re clearly thrilled to be here.

“Catriona’s a natural mum,” says Heather. “And Andrew is a gorgeous baby. I have four children, and Catriona is my youngest. I now have eight grandchildren – and Nan has 11 great-grandchildren! It’s so nice to be down here with everyone.”

Looking over at the beautifully set table, crystal glasses winking in the sunlight, linen tablecloth ironed crease free, and cherries stacked high in cut-glass goblets, both Heather and Nan are reminded of Christmas celebrations from years gone by.

“The table does look lovely, doesn’t it?” remarks Heather to Nan, who is seated on the couch, a cup of tea on her lap.

“We used to have big Christmases like this over in New Zealand with Mum’s family when I was growing up.”

“I never had to spend hours in the kitchen, thankfully,” adds Nan. “[The family] were always so pleased to see us, everything would all be done for us.”

The family feasted on turkey, ham and pork, and “always home-made Christmas puddings, with threepences and sixpences in them”, Heather adds. “There was always money in the pudding, and all the kids would try to find it.”

The tradition continued when Catriona was growing up, with family and friends descending on Heather’s Sydney home on Christmas morning.

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Grant and Candice celebrate with their baby twins

Grant Hackett

Grant and Candice tell how they’ll be celebrating with their new twins.

With their cute-as-a-button pigeon pair set to be the undisputed stars of their family Christmas celebrations, Candice Alley and Grant Hackett have double cause to be thankful this festive season.

But the new parents do have a little confession to make: all they really want for Christmas is a good night’s sleep!

“I’d love to get a solid eight hours at the moment, but I could do with 23,” laughs Olympic swimming champion Grant.

“At the moment, we’re getting a few hours of broken sleep a night. I was up at 4.45am every morning during my swimming career, so it’s almost like I’m getting back to that again!”

Not that Grant or his singer-songwriter wife Candice, who welcomed their precious twins Charlize and Jagger into the world on September 11, are complaining.

“When you get the babies out of their cot in the middle of the night, their faces break into a smile as soon as they recognise you,” Candice says, insisting the interrupted sleep is quickly forgotten.

Having hung the baubles on their tree and ticked off all the items on their shopping list, a super-organised Candice and Grant are counting down the days to their famous lunch, when they’ll host their extended family.

“Christmas has always been our favourite time of the year,” Candice says. “It’s just a massive day of festive eating.

“Everyone helps out. It’s a mixture of my mum’s English cooking with my dad’s Italian cooking and my pavlova. So it’s the biggest lunch ever.”

“It’s so great when all the family get together on the day just to talk and have a good time,” says Grant. “No-one has to go to work. The world shuts down for the day, so everyone spends time with their loved ones, which is really what it should be all about.

“Now I’ll have an excuse over the next few years to go to Toys R Us and buy things that I want to play with,” quips the good natured athlete turned TV presenter. “That’s one of the best things – you never grow old!”

Little wonder, then, that Grant can’t wait until Charlize and Jagger are big enough to partake in the family’s festive season traditions.

“I’m sure Candice and I will be the sort of parents who leave carrots out for the reindeer and a glass of milk for Santa,” he grins.

“Next year, they’ll probably be pulling the decorations off the tree, but the year after that they may be able to help us decorate it.”

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Lunch for one in the middle of nowhere!

Jessica Watson

Alone on a vast ocean, young sailor Jessica Watson tells Ray Chesterton she will still be celebrating on December 25, thanks to her loving family.

Teenage solo sailor Jessica Watson, 16, knew she wouldn’t be home for Christmas this year – so she took it with her.

It’s tightly packed among the other precious packages in the tiny cabin of her small yacht, Ella’s Pink Lady, as she continues her quest to become the youngest person to sail non-stop around the world unassisted.

On December 25, all alone in an endless panorama of water, she will celebrate Christmas in the most personal and private way imaginable.

With any moisture in her own eyes lost in the backdrop of Southern Ocean swells, Jessica will unpack her Christmas Day goodies with only a curious dolphin or migratory bird as a possible spectator.

With grand ceremony and delight, she’ll unfurl a small, collapsible Christmas tree – a cherished memento from her grandparents, who have used it on their own Christmas Day table for decades.

They also packed decorations to hang in the cabin, and presents, which Jessica will open with unrestrained joy along with gifts from her parents, brother and sisters. Just touching them brings memories of when they all celebrated together as a family. Her father, Roger, packed her a necklace, her mother, Julie, a crochet set and diary.

And from a couple of thousand nautical miles away, Jessica will be as close as memories can take her to Christmases past.

“I’ll miss everyone very much, but it will still be a fun day,” she tells Woman’s Day by satellite phone in her first interview since setting sail on October 18.

“I’m looking forward to opening presents, having lunch, taking it easy and talking to my family. I’ll have the decorations up and I’m looking forward to everything. “But a lot will depend on the weather. If it’s bad, I could be very busy. If it’s a nice day I’ll be enjoying myself and taking photos.”

Jessica’s Christmas lunch will also be dependent on the weather conditions. There’s no time for a solo sailor to keep the boat on course while trying to juggle a plate of hot food. But her mother is sure of one thing.

“There is a Christmas cake on board, and chocolates,” Julie laughs. “Jess loves chocolate.”

For sailors, one of the worst fates is being caught in the doldrums – where winds disappear and boats are stranded in a time lock, unable to move until the breeze picks up.

Being alone in the middle of an ocean on Christmas Day could become an emotional doldrums for some, but Jessica is determined to stay confident and optimistic.

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Best bike on the block

Best bike on the block

Every boy wants a bike for Christmas but Josiah Kappert, born without arms, scored an extra special set of wheels, his mum Marika tells Katherine Chatfield.

Josiah Kappert grins as he sits on his new bike and pedals off down the road. But while most 10-year-old boys like nothing more than riding a bike with their mates, it’s still a novelty for Josiah.

Born with no arms, Josiah has never had the luxury of being able to whizz around on two wheels – until now.

“Josiah does everything with his feet, because he’s had no choice,” explains his mum Marika.

“He writes with his feet at school and is quite independent. He’s very cheerful and has a quiet confidence in who he is.”

But although Josiah, who lives in WA’s Riverton, could balance on a tricycle when he was younger, as he got older a two-wheeler was just too hard for him to manoeuvre.

“He got a lot of joy out of his trike, but it got so small for him, he’d end up just riding round and round in circles,” says Marika.

“All his cousins have proper bikes. They’d ride up and down the street and Josiah couldn’t join in. He knew he was missing out. He just wanted to be able to ride around with the others and be part of the group.”

Determined that Josiah shouldn’t miss out on one of childhood’s simplest pleasures, Marika set about finding a solution. She contacted Dreamfit, a charity that recruits volunteers to design equipment for people with disabilities.

CEO Darren Lomman says the challenge of designing a bike for Josiah was too great to turn down.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about this little boy who just wanted to cycle around with his mates,” says Darren. “I had to help him.”

Darren enlisted some university engineering students who were keen to show how engineering could make a difference in the local community. He challenged six teams to make a bike that Josiah could ride comfortably.

“It was great,” he says. “They got so involved. Because there was a little boy waiting for something at the end of the project, they took it very seriously.”

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Don’t let my brother’s killer go free

Don't let my brother's killer go free

Melissa Ashfield witnessed her mother and stepfather murder her brother. Now, as the stepfather is about to be released, Melissa talks to Glen Williams.

It’s little wonder Melissa Ashfield is a haunted and tortured soul. Sixteen years ago, as a terrified toddler, she was forced by her sadistic parents to watch as they set about bashing to death her six-year-old brother, John.

It was a crime that left Australia reeling. How could a parent, let alone both mum and dad, possibly unleash such evil, such boundless cruelty on their own child? The memory of the three-hour ordeal on that terrible day in August 1993 still stirs up nightmares in the troubled 19-year-old.

Melissa’s mother, Gunn-Britt Ashfield, and her stepfather, Austin Hughes, were jailed for 21 years for John’s murder. Their sentences were reduced on appeal to 19 years with a non-parole period of 14 years.

Since the murder, Melissa and her siblings have spent their lives in foster homes and institutions and refuges. They have been split up – all the while enduring the trauma of what they saw inside their Nowra, NSW, home all those years ago.

“We feel like we’ve been punished,” Melissa says, blinking back tears. “We’ve been punished pretty much all our lives. DOCS wouldn’t let us stay with our real father, they wouldn’t let us stay with aunties and uncles. They took us away.”

And now comes the news that the NSW State Parole Authority think it’s “in the community’s best interests” for Austin Hughes to walk free. And Melissa’s mother, who has changed her name to Anjelic Karstrom, can reapply for parole next May.

“I’m angry, upset and hurt,” says Melissa, who waived her statutory right to anonymity to speak to Woman’s Day in the hope that her story might help to keep Hughes behind bars. Her siblings now live in another state and remain anonymous, desperate to put the nightmare behind them.

“My siblings are really struggling with this very badly. They are trying to move on. Austin gets to come out and celebrate Christmas and the fact is we have not been able to celebrate Christmas since my brother was murdered.

“Austin is not remorseful. The only time he’s shown remorse is when he is up for parole. If he was remorseful he could easily have written to me or my siblings saying he was sorry.”

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Chantelle Newbury’s Triumph

Chantelle Newbery’s Triumph

After two suicide attempts, the Olympic diving gold medallist tells Glen Williams she’s putting her life back together.

Her smile is uncertain at first. It creeps up tentatively, almost as if it needs permission, before lighting up her face.

For the past eight months, Chantelle Newbery has been trying to dig herself out of a very dark hole. Immobilised by depression, she spent her days wallowing indoors with the blinds pulled down, lacking the will even to get out of bed.

The last time Woman’s Day met Chantelle her marriage was in tatters, she was feeling “scared” and “lost”, and calling herself a hopeless mum to her two young sons. She was tear-stained and racked with guilt following two failed suicide attempts.

Thankfully, it’s a very different Chantelle, freshly returned from a self-imposed stint in a Sydney rehabilitation hospital, who greets us this time.

Opening the door to her Brisbane home, there is a healthy sparkle in her eyes, an energy to her once lethargic movements, and a certainty when she speaks.

And the smile, when it does come, radiates a new found peace. “I’m feeling a lot better, I’ve come a long way since we last met,” Chantelle, 32, says. “That dark time is a bit of a blur to me now. One day kept rolling into another, and nothing ever got better. But now, things keep getting better.

“The bad feeling does come back every now and then, I don’t think I will ever get over it totally, but I’ve learnt to work on strategies to try to keep me on top of things, so that I won’t spiral out of control.”

The bottom line for Chantelle Newbery, who captured our hearts with her gold-winning dive from the 10m tower at the 2004 Athens Olympics – our first diving gold medal in 80 years – is that she’s learning how to be happy again.

The young woman who found herself “crying tears for no reason” is determined her two boys, Jet, 7, and Ryder, 3, will not remember her as a tragically sad mum. “I hope they can see me as a happier mum,” she says. “They’re perceptive. They picked up on my sadness, so hopefully they can pick up on my increasingly happier mood.

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Hollywood stars mourn Brittany

Brittany Murphy

Some of the biggest names in Hollywood have taken to Twitter to mourn the shock death of actress Brittany Murphy.

The Hollywood actress died on Sunday after her mother found her unconscious in the shower in the home the star shared with her husband, screenwriter Simon Monjack.

Entertainment news website TMZ reported the actress then went into full cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

The star, who was aged just 32, shot to fame in the ’90s after starring alongside Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, went on to star in 8 Mile and was the voice of Gloria in Happy Feet .

Stars like Denise Richards, Ashton Kutcher, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson took to Twitter to share their shock and condolences after the star’s death.

Ashton Kutcher, who Brittany once dated and co-starred with in Just Married first tweeted “2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine. My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany’s family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon.” He then tweeted: “See you on the other side, kid.” While Denise Richards wrote “Brittany Murphy was in Drop Dead Gorgeous with me and was the sweetest and most adorable. Tragic, sad and devastating. Her poor family.”

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Want good health? Get married

Getty Images

Getty Images

The myth is that marriage can make you mad, but psychologists have found that is really is good for your health.

Clinical psychologist Dr Kate Scott from New Zealand’s University of Otago conducted the study of more than 35,000 people across 15 different countries based on a decade of surveys by the World Health Organization.

In pictures: Hollywood’s longest surviving couples

“We were able to look at what happens to mental health in marriage, both in comparison with never getting married, and with ending marriage,” Dr Scott said in a media statement.

The study found that getting married, as opposed to not sharing nuptials, is better for the mental health of both men and women, not just women as previous studies had found.

Dr Scott found that there was an increased risk of mental health issues in those who have a marriage end, through death, divorce or separation. Men have an increased risk of developing depression and women are more likely to turn to substance abuse.

In pictures: Famous heartbreaks

“What our study points to is that the marital relationship offers a lot of mental health benefits for both men and women, and that the distress and disruption associated with ending marriage can make people vulnerable to developing mental disorders,” Dr Scott said.

A number of other differences between married genders were revealed in the study, including that women were more likely to become depressed in their first marriage than men. This, Dr Scott said, was probably linked to traditional gender roles at home.

Your say: What do you think of these findings? Have you seen these findings reflected in your life? Do you think married people are healthier? Share your thoughts with us below.

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A decade of inspiration

At the end of the decade most of us turn and reflect on the ten years that have passed. At Women’s Weekly we’ve had a beautiful woman on the cover each month and have been inspired by their stories and touched by their compassion.

Can you believe it was a whopping ten years ago that Cathy Freeman won her way into the record books and our hearts at the Sydney Olympics? And in 2005 we were shocked to learn that Kylie Minogue had breast cancer? Take a look at more of the inspirational women of the 2000s.

Cathy Freeman

http://cdn.assets.cougar.bauer-media.net.au/s3/digital-cougar-assets/AWW/2013/09/16/27129/52118177_10.jpg

Kylie Minogue

Oprah Winfrey

Delta Goodrem

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Cholesterol and plant sterols

Five margarine myths debunked

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Plant sterols (also known as phytosterols) are natural substances that can help lower your cholesterol. They exist in wood pulp and leaves, but are also found naturally in certain foods such as vegetable oil, nuts, legumes, corn, fruit and vegetables. You can obtain higher levels through enriched margarine spreads.

How do they work?

When consumed, plant sterols reduce the absorption of cholesterol from your intestines into the body. This includes both the cholesterol you eat (called dietary cholesterol) and that made by your liver, which enters the intestines through bile. Studies show that plant sterols can lower LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol in the blood by about 10 percent.

How much do you need?

Typical Western diets supply only 200mg to 400mg of plant sterols per day. Vegetarians usually consume more, around 600mg to 800mg, because they eat more plant foods. If you have a raised blood cholesterol level, you will require 2g to 3g of plant sterols per day to lower your cholesterol.

To easily achieve the required intake for lowering cholesterol:

Use 20g to 30g of an enriched margarine spread daily, which is enough to cover three or four slices of bread. Some plant sterol-enriched margarines can’t be used in frying, so refer to the directions on the packaging carefully. In some countries there are a variety of foods enriched with plant sterols to choose from, such as salad dressings and mayonnaise.

However, in Australia, margarine spreads are the only foods presently allowed to be fortified. The Australian food industry has applied to the regulatory authority for permission to add plant sterols to fibre-increased bread, breakfast cereal bars, low-fat milk and low-fat yoghurt.

Safety precautions

While foods naturally containing plant sterols are safe to eat for the whole family, the safety of enriched foods has needed to be evaluated as these contain higher levels of plant sterols, not usually consumed in the human diet.

More than 30 clinical studies show that margarine spreads with added plant sterols are safe to use. However, safety data is presently lacking for pregnant and breastfeeding women. Also, there are no long-term studies showing the effects in children who consume these products.

Food and nutrition tips

To lower high blood cholesterol and protect against heart disease:

  • Eat a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol (see fact sheet on “high blood cholesterol”).

  • Please remember, if you are already on cholesterol-lowering medication, you should continue to take it while using sterol margarines.

  • Include a minimum of five serves (and preferably seven) of fruit and vegetables daily, such as yellow, orange, dark green, red and purple types.

  • If desired, and you are not pregnant or breastfeeding, use plant sterol-enriched margarine spreads. These can add nearly 20g fat and more than 700 kilojoules daily, so you may need to compensate by reducing your fat intake from other foods.

Your say: Have your or someone close to you battled with high cholesterol? What have you found to be an effective method of reducing your cholesterol levels? Share with us below…

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