Cityseen
It's the most wonderful time of the year - or so they say. Really, who doesn't enjoy waking up Christmas morning and ripping open their presents? Some years are great, others you get socks and underwear. In the joyful spirit of the season, we asked some prominent local personalities to think back and tell us what their all-time favourite seasonal gift was.
Candice Suen
Director of Triple-O's by White Spot burger chain
'My best Christmas present was when I was six or seven and received what I had asked Santa for: various Hello Kitty paraphernalia. I looked at the back of these items and asked my parents why 'Made in Japan' was printed there since I thought Santa made all his stuff at the North Pole. So, my best gift was knowledge via getting my Santa dreams crushed. Other than that, I also really like the matching draughtboard-cut citrine and diamond rings that my parents bought for both my sister and myself a couple of years ago.'
Christian Rhomberg
Director of KEE Club
'Eight years ago I submitted a plan to build a Japanese house in Austria at my parent's lake. Five years later, after three unsuccessful submissions, I received the OK to build my dream house. I asked my stepbrother Martin, a young talented architect, to design and build it for me according to my unconventional brief. It was the first house he ever built. When I arrived a week before Christmas the house was finished. It was magic with all the snow around - a perfect Christmas for the entire family. And the house has since won two reputed design awards.'
Mabel Au-yeung
PR executive for Bonhams Auction House
'For Christmas gifts of sentimental value, I have to say jewellery from boyfriends. Alas, I have lost some or are not interested in wearing the others. I am still waiting to find a five-carat diamond ring as a stocking filler. Hint, hint. But for the most treasured Christmas present, it's certainly the gift of life from God. I was in Sri Lanka during the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 and survived to tell the tale.'
Bernard Lo
Bloomberg's morning anchor
'I was 13. Dad was never good at Christmas presents and he gave me the anniversary holiday edition of Playboy magazine. Mum was not happy.'
Wong Chi-chung
Arts and music writer/journalist
'A warm and sunny Hawaiian Christmas holiday last year my wife Yvonne and I gave ourselves. We had lots of fine dining meals, went surfing, kayaking, scuba diving, as well as making our first baby. She's now two months young. Her name is Kalani, which means 'the heavenly and spiritual one' in Hawaiian.'
