Mikki Yao

Model

When I was 19, my whole family moved to Germany. Since we had lived in Shanghai before, we didn't have a tradition of celebrating Christmas. It was my first one ever in Europe and I was really anticipating a white Christmas. I waited and waited. It didn't snow on the 22nd, the 23rd or the morning of the 24th. Disappointed, I told myself it will just be a Christmas without snow. But surprisingly, at 8pm on Christmas Eve, it really came down. It snowed until the next morning. I remember the streets were all covered by a thick layer of snow and we couldn't even get out of the house. It was a spectacular view, everything was white. It was very Christmasy. Though my parents didn't give us any presents, it was indeed very memorable and my first real Christmas.

Bobsy Jureidini

Owner of Life Cafe

Living in East Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, Christmas eve 1979 was hard to forget. Everyone in our eight-storey building arranged to celebrate in a fourth-floor apartment. We all spent two days preparing and cooking with a limited gas supply. A sound system was wired to a car battery and the children were dancing to Boney M and Abba when we heard distant rumbles of canon and mortar shells exploding. We tried to ignore it but the sounds got louder and louder, meaning the bombs were closer and closer. Suddenly, the music was turned off and we all sat holding our breaths listening to the radio. I will never forget the fear I experienced as our building was directly hit by rockets twice, once on the second floor and another on the roof. For some reason, we had all decided to stand our ground and not run down to the basement. Suddenly the bombing stopped. One of the braver boys then turned the music to maximum. It blasted out into the eerily silent night while we all picked up the pieces.

Janana Suleymanli

Socialite

I was an 18-year-old Muslim from Azerbaijan in my first year in college in the United States and had never experienced below-zero temperatures. Within minutes after the final test all the local students left for home in a little town in the Deep South in 1994. You can imagine how lonely it was for me. So when a small group of foreign students got invited to our dean's house, the level of happiness could not be compared to anything. Suddenly my dorm's empty hallways, the gloomy walls of the abandoned college, and the ice-covered parking lot did not look so grey. My first Christmas went so well: with turkey, gravy, a cosy fireplace, a beautiful live tree with gifts underneath for us. How could one forget the warmth of a family who gave us so much more than just a hot meal. Also, to get a true understanding of the real meaning of Christmas: sharing, accepting, giving - no matter what race, religion or background one might come from.

Janice Vidal

Singer

I remember when I was about 16 I went to Korea with my sister and we went skiing. It is the most memorable Christmas I can think of because after becoming a singer it has always been work, work, work. I actually haven't had a holiday since, although I would love one. It's so sad that I don't get to spend as much time as I want with my family. This industry is crazy and it's very hectic. So now I treat my colleagues as my family.