What are your Christmas plans this year?

My plan is to spend Christmas with all my best friends and family, having big dinners, and doing secret Santa. I will be dressing my three chihuahuas and myself in ugly Christmas sweaters while dancing to Christmas carols. 

What are your favourite family traditions during the holidays?

Usually we get a Christmas tree, but I love giving people Christmas cards. We also love to admire all the Christmas lights on buildings every year. 

What do you most look forward to this time of year?

I look forward to seeing what Christmas gifts I get this year (laughs). 

What is your fondest memory of Christmas?

I loved getting Christmas cards when I was a kid during my grade school years, and thought all of them were so beautiful, and the messages were always something I looked forward to reading.

What are your Christmas plans this year?

Usually, I would travel back to Canada to spend Christmas with my family. In the past, we would always do big family Christmas parties that were always the highlight of my year. This year, I’m going to be hosting a few big parties for friends at my studio in Chai Wan. 

What are your favourite family traditions during the holidays?

My family and I always do a pretty classic Christmas. We open presents from under the tree around the fire on Christmas morning and we follow that with a big breakfast. I then go off to my aunt’s gorgeous 200-year-old farmhouse in the countryside for a big family Christmas dinner with lots of wine.

What do you most look forward to this time of year?

I have always absolutely loved Christmas and everything that comes with it. I love all the Christmas parties, the drinks and the abundance of food. But, mainly I love the festive mood, spending time with friends and loved ones, sharing old memories and making new ones, and re-watching all the Christmas classics for the 100th time. 

What is your fondest memory of Christmas?

My favourite Christmas memory was when I was very young and my parents got me my first ever set of hockey equipment. As I am Canadian, hockey is very important. When kids get their first new set of equipment, it's a very big deal. 

What are your Christmas plans this year?

I’m very excited to be reunited with my family this year after almost two years of separation due to the travel restrictions. Prior to the pandemic, I would travel between my hometown in Vietnam and Hong Kong every month. Looking back, that was such a privilege. My parents and sister are finally visiting Hong Kong for the holidays despite the 14-day quarantine, so I am looking forward to bringing them to the two new restaurants in our Group, Hansik Goo and Whey. I hope they enjoy the food.

What are your favourite family traditions during the holidays?

The pandemic has made me realise how much I took it for granted to be able to travel whenever I liked. I used to travel a lot with my family during Christmas, especially to Bangkok, which is very close to Ho Chi Minh City. Our family loves Thai food and we would also visit temples to worship the Buddha.

What do you most look forward to this time of year?

In addition to a family reunion, I also look forward to the annual year-end celebration with our ZS [Hospitality Group] team. A lot of colleagues have been with us for a long time, and it’s the perfect occasion to do team bonding, refresh ourselves, and prepare for new challenges ahead.

What is your fondest memory of Christmas?

I still remember the first time I saw a Christmas tree when I was three years old. It was in New World Saigon Hotel, the first luxury five-star hotel in Vietnam. Celebrating Christmas had become a trend and [businesses had begun] putting up festive decorations to attract tourists from overseas. The tall and fragrant tree decorated with sparkling ornaments looked so fascinating to me. That year, I also joined a Christmas play at school for the first time and dressed up as a little shepherd, which is one of my fondest Christmas memories.

What are your Christmas plans this year?

With the current restrictions still in place, I will be staying in Hong Kong and hosting a number of intimate Christmas dinner parties at home for my friends and family. Every Christmas morning, I help prepare and distribute meals to the needy in Sham Shui Po with Missionaries of Charity-Home of Love. Unfortunately, it was cancelled last year due to Covid-19 but I am hopeful that it will be resurrected this year.

What are your favourite family traditions during the holidays?

My family typically celebrates Chinese New Year more than Christmas. Unfortunately, last year my parents came in close contact with someone who contracted the coronavirus and subsequently spent their Christmas at Penny’s Bay quarantine facility. We will celebrate this Christmas with an intimate family dinner during which we will open our Christmas gifts together.

What do you most look forward to this time of year?

Every year, I order our Christmas tree way ahead of schedule to ensure I get one, as well as to avoid paying the exorbitant and inflated cost of trees as Christmas approaches, and always look forward to decorating it with decorations I usually source from Liberty of London. I also look forward to spending time with friends and family watching cheesy Christmas movies, such as Love Actually, which has become an annual tradition. Finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention playing Christmas tunes at our parties. When I hear Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas being played, I know that Christmas is just around the corner.

What is your fondest memory of Christmas?

I remember as a child my parents took me to the Christmas Ball at the Regent Hotel (the former Intercontinental Hotel location in Kowloon). The ballroom at the Regent was even more impressive than the Grand Hyatt ballroom and I just remember how glamorous and dressed up people were. It was so magical and enchanting.

What are your Christmas plans this year?

Christmas is my favourite holiday so I like to pack in as many festive gatherings as possible. Giving is my favourite thing to do [in general], and it’s the season for presents. The calendar kicks off with a Christmas carol event at St. John’s Cathedral to raise funds for Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre in Hong Kong, and ends with a friend’s Christmas dinner on the new terrace at the Hari Hong Kong on December 23. The rest of the holidays will entail hibernating at home with family.

What are your favourite family traditions during the holidays?

Every Christmas Eve, family from near and far gather for an exciting series of events, such as cocktails before sitting for a show which the cousins prepare just for that evening. It’s normally a skit centred around the year’s developments, and we poke fun at family members, too. We then have a Christmas feast and end the evening singing Christmas carols and chanting for Santa to come visit us at midnight, which he always does.

Santa is played by a different family member each year. All the children take turns sitting on Santa’s lap and no matter who you are, or how old you are, you receive a gift. On Christmas day, we head to brunch then retire to the sofa to watch Christmas movies. On Boxing Day, we have a big brunch with the entire extended family. I normally end up on a hike during the afternoon with my cousins. 

What do you most look forward to this time of year?

I really loving giving my close family and friends presents. No matter how small, the gesture of a gift is something I truly love and plan throughout the year. I listen for small clues in conversation and pick up on things people say they want or need and make a list. I try to fulfil that list by the end of year. It’s just something that makes me really happy. 

What is your fondest memory of Christmas?

Christmas carols with my cousins and spending so much time with my family.