The Christmas decorations are starting to look tired and the kids are already bored with the toys they received as presents. You know what that means: time to refocus on what to do for New Year's Eve. Of course, it doesn't always have to be a big blowout. Sometimes different is good. Here are some prominent Hongkongers with what they recall as their most memorable Christmas and New Year holidays.
My best New Year was definitely 2006. This was my first real holiday as a mother. I had a 13-month-old girl and another baby in my belly. Our whole family of 12 spent Christmas and New Year at the Mandarin Oriental in Chiang Mai. The resort could be compared to a royal hideaway. As the first grandchild, my daughter Quisha was obviously spoiled to the extreme by her grannies and my husband's siblings. It was really rewarding for me as a late-blooming mother to see her having fun feeding elephants, riding on an elephant and a horse carriage with her dad, playing with buffalo and just swimming and lazing around in her cute bikini. Since I was just over three months' pregnant, I received the utmost pampering. I was banned from everything risky and strenuous - those bumpy elephant and horse carriage rides, carrying Quisha, bathing her, and carrying heavy luggage. The best thing was my husband and my father-in-law celebrated their birthdays together for the first time ever (due to a coincidental Chinese calendar). It was an extremely memorable and luxurious family trip where I felt like a queen ... for once.
Esther Ma Tin-wai, chief executive of Prestique Marketing
New Year is usually a really busy time for artists to attend different music award shows and all kinds of promotional events. I have spent every New Year working since I started my showbiz career seven years ago. However, this year will be a bit different. As I have committed most of the second half of 2009 to making movies and releasing my album earlier on, my workload at the beginning of the year is much lighter than previous years so I can finally chill out a little bit and really spend my first New Year in seven years with my family. So what's my most memorable New Year? I am betting it is going to be this one.
Juno Mak Chun-lung, singer
Hopefully this New Year will be the most memorable one for me because I am opening a centre for the elderly in January for seniors who live alone. The idea was inspired by my mother, who died four years ago. She had a stroke and fell into a coma and later passed away. Her passing made me realise that I hadn't done a son's duty to care for her when she was alive and I want to do this for other elderly people who do not have children to care for them. Actually, since I don't have any children and am not married, I will likely become a home-alone elder too. I think I will also want other people to care for me and offer me some warmth, especially during a joyful New Year period.