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The most successful gifts come wrapped in great stories. In the third of a three-part feature, Life & Leisure asks leading women to tell us about the most special presents they've given and received, and what they would most like this year.
Jac Hunt, co-founder and design director of Jac+Jack
BEST GIFT RECEIVED My husband and I eloped to Sri Lanka and got married three days before Christmas in 2005, the year after the tsunami. We stayed in Galle, which had been hard hit, and on Christmas Day the town's children put on a puppet show on the steps of our hotel. It was colourful, uplifting and filled with happiness and humour. One of the children gave me a handwoven basket after the show. It is something I treasure and still use each summer. It's faded now, but it takes me right back to that Christmas Day in 2005.
BEST GIFT GIVEN Anyone who knows me knows I am a terrible cook who always wants to entertain. My business partner, Lisa "Jack" Dempsey, and I decided to host a Christmas lunch for 10 family and friends. The massive white ceiling light we used as a seafood platter leaked. The fillet of beef was overcooked and two hours late. We sat down to lunch about 5pm. The pavlova collapsed. It rained all day and our carefully arranged table setting on Lisa's front verandah got soaked through. While the lunch itself lacked polish, the day was a smash hit. We had invited people to drop in and the party got going as everything was running so ridiculously late. People still tell me it was their best Christmas Day ever.
MOST LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS
Victor Churchill ham for me and peace on Earth for everyone else.
Lisa Havilah, director of Carriageworks
BEST GIFT RECEIVED My most treasured present was given to me by my family for my 30th birthday. It was a painting of my horse commissioned from the Australian artist Noel McKenna. When I look at it, it makes me think of home and all things family. It is a great piece of art but it is also a complete comfort picture.
BEST GIFT GIVEN About five years ago our whole extended family pitched in to buy a horse for my niece Maisie. She'd always had an obsession with horses but that Christmas it was at a particularly high point. She had no idea she was getting one. Her reaction was unforgettable. It was literally an out-of-her-skin level of excitement.
MOST LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS My husband, Glenn Barkley, is an artist, so even though I am constantly surrounded by his work I hope that maybe he has made something for me, alongside what he buys me every year, which is magazines and chocolate Christmas trees.
Graphic: Michaela Pollock
Maud Page, incoming deputy director and director of collections at the Art Gallery of NSW
BEST GIFT RECEIVED Twenty-six years ago following a trip to Morocco, my father gave me a small, ornate, silver box. Inside it, layered in wool, was a honey-coloured piece of musk. He died a year later at 42. He was an incredibly magnetic man and no photo can relay how large his presence was. The musk, which has shrunk only slightly in all these years, still smells so pungently unique – warm, indescribably earthy and strange, all characteristics of his that I miss so very much. This little box is one of my most precious possessions and sits at my bedside.
BEST GIFT GIVEN When I was growing up, the place I cherished the most was my grandparents' beautiful home and garden. "Chenneraille" was an eclectic grand dame with an unfinished top floor, huge fireplaces and a garden lined with old oak trees in St Chamond, France. When my grandfather passed away, my grandmother valiantly stayed on so that we could all continue to gather in this house we all loved so much. I had a local artist come and draw it for my four aunts and uncles and my mother. Each was given an almost identical aquarelle showing the house in full sunlight with my grandmother tending to her dahlias at the front. The house eventually had to be sold, and the little aquarelles are now the most evocative and intimate memories of this special place.
MOST LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS We are moving interstate, leaving a house we've been in for 14 years, so as I sit contemplating Christmas amid all the boxes filled with memories and way too many trinkets, I know that what I'll most need once I finally get to Sydney is a weekend away with my husband and two kids, Alia and Vai. Three days south, perhaps towards Berry, staying in an Airbnb. On our way we will sing top 40 songs and balance that madness with quick detours to galleries. Unmissable on the way will be the Campbelltown and Casula Powerhouse galleries.
Eva Galambos, director of Parlour X
BEST GIFT RECEIVED It would have to be a Tiffany's Paloma Picasso Zellige medallion ring with black onyx. It was given to me by my partner, Michael, after the birth of our second child, named Paloma.
BEST GIFT GIVEN In terms of success, I can't go past the trampoline I bought my eldest daughter, Alexa, for Christmas a few years ago. It is still used daily by my kids and their friends and leads to endless giggles and joy for all those who have a bounce. Most importantly, it is a brilliant method to tire them out!
MOST LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS I want the gift of time. Time away from the computer, time with the kids, time lying by a pool and time for my friends.
Lisa Havilah, director of Carriageworks
BEST GIFT RECEIVED My most treasured present was given to me by my family for my 30th birthday. It was a painting of my horse commissioned from the Australian artist Noel McKenna. When I look at it, it makes me think of home and all things family. It is a great piece of art but it is also a complete comfort picture.
BEST GIFT GIVEN About five years ago our whole extended family pitched in to buy a horse for my niece Maisie. She'd always had an obsession with horses but that Christmas it was at a particularly high point. She had no idea she was getting one. Her reaction was unforgettable. It was literally an out-of-her-skin level of excitement.
MOST LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS My husband, Glenn Barkley, is an artist, so even though I am constantly surrounded by his work I hope that maybe he has made something for me, alongside what he buys me every year, which is magazines and chocolate Christmas trees.
Maud Page, incoming deputy director and director of collections at the Art Gallery of NSW
BEST GIFT RECEIVED Twenty-six years ago following a trip to Morocco, my father gave me a small, ornate, silver box. Inside it, layered in wool, was a honey-coloured piece of musk. He died a year later at 42. He was an incredibly magnetic man and no photo can relay how large his presence was. The musk, which has shrunk only slightly in all these years, still smells so pungently unique – warm, indescribably earthy and strange, all characteristics of his that I miss so very much. This little box is one of my most precious possessions and sits at my bedside.
BEST GIFT GIVEN When I was growing up, the place I cherished the most was my grandparents' beautiful home and garden. "Chenneraille" was an eclectic grand dame with an unfinished top floor, huge fireplaces and a garden lined with old oak trees in St Chamond, France. When my grandfather passed away, my grandmother valiantly stayed on so that we could all continue to gather in this house we all loved so much. I had a local artist come and draw it for my four aunts and uncles and my mother. Each was given an almost identical aquarelle showing the house in full sunlight with my grandmother tending to her dahlias at the front. The house eventually had to be sold, and the little aquarelles are now the most evocative and intimate memories of this special place.
MOST LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS We are moving interstate, leaving a house we've been in for 14 years, so as I sit contemplating Christmas amid all the boxes filled with memories and way too many trinkets, I know that what I'll most need once I finally get to Sydney is a weekend away with my husband and two kids, Alia and Vai. Three days south, perhaps towards Berry, staying in an Airbnb. On our way we will sing top 40 songs and balance that madness with quick detours to galleries. Unmissable on the way will be the Campbelltown and Casula Powerhouse galleries.
Jac Hunt, co-founder and design director of Jac+Jack
BEST GIFT RECEIVED My husband and I eloped to Sri Lanka and got married three days before Christmas in 2005, the year after the tsunami. We stayed in Galle, which had been hard hit, and on Christmas Day the town's children put on a puppet show on the steps of our hotel. It was colourful, uplifting and filled with happiness and humour. One of the children gave me a handwoven basket after the show. It is something I treasure and still use each summer. It's faded now, but it takes me right back to that Christmas Day in 2005.
BEST GIFT GIVEN Anyone who knows me knows I am a terrible cook who always wants to entertain. My business partner, Lisa "Jack" Dempsey, and I decided to host a Christmas lunch for 10 family and friends. The massive white ceiling light we used as a seafood platter leaked. The fillet of beef was overcooked and two hours late. We sat down to lunch about 5pm. The pavlova collapsed. It rained all day and our carefully arranged table setting on Lisa's front verandah got soaked through. While the lunch itself lacked polish, the day was a smash hit. We had invited people to drop in and the party got going as everything was running so ridiculously late. People still tell me it was their best Christmas Day ever.
MOST LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS
Victor Churchill ham for me and peace on Earth for everyone else.
Eva Galambos, director of Parlour X
BEST GIFT RECEIVED It would have to be a Tiffany's Paloma Picasso Zellige medallion ring with black onyx. It was given to me by my partner, Michael, after the birth of our second child, named Paloma.
BEST GIFT GIVEN In terms of success, I can't go past the trampoline I bought my eldest daughter, Alexa, for Christmas a few years ago. It is still used daily by my kids and their friends and leads to endless giggles and joy for all those who have a bounce. Most importantly, it is a brilliant method to tire them out!
MOST LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS I want the gift of time. Time away from the computer, time with the kids, time lying by a pool and time for my friends.