I'm a Christmas person - flavours like cinnamon, nutmeg and grilled prawns remind me of a month of baking and feasting with my family under a hot Australian sun with beers on ice, and a pillowy-soft pavlova laden with Aussie mangoes and passion fruit chilling in the fridge.
Is there another holiday so widely celebrated around the world? In the southern hemisphere, Santa lounges in shorts. In Scandinavia, a bundled-up St Nicholas dashes around on a sleigh.
Despite the holiday being religious and even if you are not a churchgoer, it is hard not to enjoy the festivities.
As I relive memories of Christmas cheer, I am happy that outside my tiny apartment in Switzerland, I see men on cherry pickers putting up large Christmas lights shaped as faux snowflakes.
Growing up in Australia, I always wanted a white Christmas - sitting by the fireplace toasting marshmallows and drinking eggnog, with carollers singing outside my house.
Alas, when I first moved to Europe and had my first Christmas knee-deep in snow, I was not able to find decent-sized prawns and regretted wishing for a Christmas that did not involve summer flavours and my family in shorts.
While Christmas may look different this year - Germany has sadly cancelled many iconic Christmas markets - I refuse to have a Christmas truncated by the pandemic.
My friends, popular chefs from around the world, feel the same way.
Here, I take readers on a quick journey to discover Christmas food traditions, with my favourite cooks as our guides. They also describe what will be on their Christmas table this year.
We may be grounded in 2020 but we can still have an inspiring Yuletide. So, Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel and Glaedelig Jul.
• Based in Europe, Australia-born Michelle Tchea is the author of Chefs Collective and writes on food, wine and travel.
1 DENMARK
Rasmus Koford, a three-Michelin-star chef in Copenhagen who uses ingredients from the natural surroundings of his restaurant, Geranium
One of my favourite winter holiday dishes is nissegrod, which is a rice porridge cooked with milk and vanilla and then topped with cinnamon sugar.
I remember eating this every winter as a child and I love making it with my kids today. It's warm, sweet and so delicious.
On my Christmas table: For my family, I will serve risalamande, which is what most Danish families will also serve.
For this traditional Christmas dish, you take the leftover nissegrod from the day before and fold in whipped cream and chopped almonds. It is served cold with a warm cherry sauce.
Sometimes, people will put a single almond in the porridge. Whoever gets the serving with the almond wins a special prize.
2 SWEDEN
Erik Videgard, a restaurateur responsible for introducing Sichuan cuisine to Swedes
The Swedish "Julbord" (Christmas Table) is an extended traditional smorgasbord. On the table are herrings pickled in as many as 20 ways.
At a restaurant, a traditional Christmas Table will consist of up to 120 courses to be eaten in five to six "turns" starting with herrings and ending with a huge dessert table.
Other dishes include slow-baked ham (my favourite), egg with vendace roe and Jansons temptation, which is a baked stew of allumette potatoes, heavy cream and anchovies. Of course, there are Swedish meatballs as well.
On my Christmas table: Probably a Chinese side of pork with stir-fried scallions and a sweet aromatic soya sauce.
For dessert, klenater or deep-fried slices of dough, cut and twisted, served with cloudberry and whipped cream.
3 PORTUGAL
Joao Rodrigues, based in Lisbon, is known for his contemporary land and sea menu
My favourite food during Christmas is roupa velha. This traditional dish, mainly from the south of Portugal, is made with bacalhau (cod fish) and potatoes, cabbages, eggs, carrots - with everything boiled on the night of Christmas Eve. Roupa velha translates to "old clothes" and it is a great comfort food.
My grandmother used to make pasteis de bacalhau or codfish fritters. They were so good that they never had enough time to get to the table.
So she was complaining about it all day and we would laugh and hug her, saying it was her fault that she made them taste so good.
On my Christmas table: I have eaten baby goat roasted in a wooden oven with potatoes and onions since I was a little boy and will do it this year as usual.
My father makes roupa velha, and he won't let anyone else do it. So I will make the roast goat in keeping with tradition.
4 RUSSIA
Igor Grishechkin, a rising culinary star, brings traditional recipes with modern, eclectic twists to his restaurant, CoCoCo in St Petersburg
For most Russians, the New Year celebration is more magnificent and atmospheric than Christmas. Christmas, which is more of a religious holiday, is celebrated on Jan 7.
During my childhood, I would say that my favourite holiday dish was a baked goose or duck with Antonov apples.
There are many different desserts that we make for the holidays, for example, cinnamon rolls, fruit jelly, wafer rolls, cockerel-shaped lollipops and "anthill cake", which is shaped like a dwelling for forest ants.
On my Christmas table: For my family, I will make a baked duck and mashed potato because my children love it.
I will also cook a traditional Olivier salad. My version will be prepared with cold boiled pork, barrel cucumbers and homemade aioli with baked garlic.
Also, I will serve fermented vegetables. Every Russian family has its own recipe of fermented cabbage, pickled tomatoes and salted mushrooms - it goes perfectly with vodka.
5 BOLIVIA
Andres Marcelo Urresti Ferrel, a Bolivian chef based in Egypt, loves to cook from the heart with recipes inspired by his grandmother
Coming from a traditional, loving Catholic family, we gather every Christmas in our grandparents' home for a big celebration.
The table will become a display, with our grandmother, mother and aunties competing to see who can prepare the most delicious dish.
It is torture for the rest of us, as we have to wait till 30 minutes before midnight before being allowed to eat the delicacies such as cunapes, which are traditional Bolivian cheese bread, and empanadas de pollo, which are chicken-filled bread dumplings.
On my Christmas table: I will try to replicate the recipes of my mother and grandmother, but the dishes never taste the same.
Still, every year, I will have pierna de lechon al horno (roasted baby pork leg) and picana de navidad (traditional mixed meat stew).
I will also have pasteles de queso, which is a deep-fried cheese dumpling best served with hot chocolate, for our last snack after midnight and after exchanging gifts.
6 SOUTH AFRICA
Nokuthula Majozi, sous chef at Rosewood Hotel and senior pie-maker at Holborn Dining Room in London
Christmas is a huge celebration for friends, family and the whole community, with strangers also invited to share in this tradition.
In Durban, South Africa, my mother and aunties would wake up as early as 4am to start cooking - producing a houseful of flavours such as masala, ginger, garlic and cinnamon for a vegetarian dish called chakalaka.
As kids, we would have a quick breakfast and rush outside to meet other kids in the neighbourhood to play a game about the sun dancing and changing colours.
Dressed in our new clothes, we would then visit one another and collect food and sweets, such as buttery biscuits, as gifts.
On my Christmas table: Malva pudding. Made of apricot jam, this spongy caramelised pudding is served hot with custard cream sauce in a big bowl.
