"Council brought their own sausages and burgers, a friend provided rump steak," Johnson said.
"We had ambrosia, and sticky date pudding, apple crumble with custard and salads.
"It was a beautiful setting and a beautiful day."
Johnson, 74, came under the spotlight this year when Hawke's Bay Today wrote about him feeding the residents of the flats out of his own pocket at least once, if not twice, a week.
He worked as a cook for 40-plus years and his cooking took him as far as Australia.
It took a quadruple heart bypass for him to retire as a cook.
"I did my apprenticeship as a pastry cook in Masterton. I went to Australia and worked at The Australian Club under a Polish cook," he previously said.
He self-deprecatingly described himself as a "basic cook" but worked at the Grand Hotel in Wellington for five years, at Newman College-University of Melbourne where he fed 220 university students and as a cook at Mary Doyle Retirement Village, Wellington among other kitchens.
But it was his time as a cook at a Mary Doyle retirement home that he enjoyed the most, before retiring at 68.
"I was working at Mary Doyle in Wellington. I loved working in the retirement home, as you get older you look after each other."
Through it all, his passion for cooking remained, so he commenced cooking for others even after retirement.
"It's my nature. My mum taught me when I was a young boy that it was nicer to give than to take.
"It keeps me busy, I enjoy it. My neighbours love it."
His neighbours seemed to be enjoying the Christmas feast, but what about him?
"I'll eat later, there is some salad left for me and a couple of sausages left for later.
"Cooks are like that, we always eat later."
Cooking is not his only passion.
The Hastings District Council also recognised his gardening prowess by granting him the 2019 Petal Power competition winner award in November.
His efforts were rewarded with the top prize in recognition of the green oasis he has created not only around his unit, but also stretching out over an adjacent communal area and around his neighbour's residence as well.
Johnson said he was the only one in his family to be enthusiastic about gardening, a passion he inherited from his mother.
