Whether it's carol-singing in church or an after-dinner gathering at the local pub, we all have our yuletide rituals. Cityseen asks some of the city's movers and shakers about their favourite festive activities
My favourite activity is helping to cook our Christmas dinner in South Africa. It's high summer there and everyone is wearing T-shirts and shorts. There is always a barbecue where the men hang around, cooking slabs of meat and drinking beer. The girls help set the table with centre pieces made of porcupine quills. We prepare grilled pumpkin and all sorts of root vegetables, mixed salads, decadent desserts and, of course, a turkey.
If I'm not celebrating my birthday on a plane somewhere over the holidays, I find myself surrounded by my loved ones at home in my pyjamas, pretty much eating anything sweet around the dinner table. Otherwise we dress up our dogs head to tail in uncomfortable outfits just for the fun of it. We also call overseas family members to check on them. One of my siblings will play the piano. The best part is opening gifts around the Christmas tree, while blasting out Christmas music and snapping pictures of one another with our gifts. We often save the sheets of wrapping paper for the following year because they are so pretty. We don't sing songs together, but we do always tell one another we love them.