Celebrities also need to rest or play, and some of them shared their holiday plans with the Sunday Times this week.
After a busy year, Chad le Clos took a break from swimming training to spend Christmas with his family and a few friends at his home in Pinetown, Durban.
"It was great to be with my family and friends. Over the next few days I shall spend time in Camps Bay in Cape Town partying with my friends. This has been a tradition since 2012. It is nice to go away, let your hair down a bit, enjoy the beach and do normal things for a change. I will continue training, but not as intense," said the Olympic gold medallist.
For MasterChef winner Roxi Wardman it was back to the kitchen as she prepared a feast for family and friends who joined her for lunch at her home on the Bluff in Durban on Christmas Day.
"It has been great to relax as next year will be extremely busy [as I will be] setting up my cafe.
"I am looking forward to welcoming the new year with a pool party at home. Everyone joining us will dress in neon colours. We usually go out on New Year's Eve, but I've decided to stay home and party with friends," she said.
Radio and TV personality Bonang Matheba will welcome 2015 in Lagos, Nigeria.
"I'll be spending my first New Year's Eve outside the country. I am very excited. I've done Cape Town and Johannesburg in previous years, so I'm looking forward to it. I am first going to Kenya to join my friend Mishumo Madima, then Lagos for a Cîroc party on New Year's Eve," said Matheba.
After a special family dinner to celebrate the highs of 2014, including the birth of her daughter, Gabriella, model Lee-Ann Liebenberg will head off to Shimmy Beach Club at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town to welcome 2015 with friends, "while watching some awesome international acts", she said.
Also in Cape Town is model, actress and TV anchor Shashi Naidoo, who has been spending the festive season in Llandudno with friends.
"For the first time in six years, I decided to spend the holidays in South Africa.
"I usually go overseas because this period is too busy here, but I decided it would be nice to see all my friends for a change. It has been really nice. Christmas was lovely with friends.
"We are still deciding what we are going to do on New Year's Eve," Naidoo said.
Jack Devnarain, who plays businessman Rajesh Kumar in the popular soapie Isidingo, decided to use the time away from the TV studio to spend with family and friends.
"I am staying in Johannesburg. This is the best time to be in Johannesburg because the roads and shopping centres are quiet as everyone else has gone away on holiday. Christmas Day was spent with my family and friends. The rain also held out, which gave us a chance to go into the pool.
"We [are] still going to decide on our plans for New Year's Eve, but it will be with friends and family. This is the only chance you get to spend with the children before we get back into the routine.
"I am looking forward to 2015 as my wife, Pam, and I celebrate 20 years of marriage," he said.
Comedian Mark Banks is spending the festive season in Calitzdorp in the Klein Karoo, where he is opening the "world's first Cape cobra training school".
On New Year's Eve, he will be doing a balloon drop from a hot-air balloon sponsored by the Oudtshoorn Chinese Fighter Pilot Flying School, he joked.
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