The doors opened at 11.30am, lunch was served at 12.30pm and the events centre was packed up and the volunteers back at the mission by 3pm, Auckland City Missioner Diane Robertson.
"It was really nice, it was just a really good vibe."
The only major incident to occur was when the kitchen temporarily ran out of gas, she said.
"We were having a wee panic about whether we'd get the food cooked.
"Somehow the has had been disconnected from the cookers, so we didn't have deep fryers and we didn't have ovens for a while."
However, the gas was soon restored and lunch fed to the waiting masses, Ms Robertson said.
Some familiar faces from the City Mission were at the lunch, along with those who did not want to spend Christmas alone, she said.
"[There was] a mixture of old and new, a lot of elderly. People are lonely, I think people come because they want to share lunch with someone else."
Ms Robertson said she was looking forward to a well-deserved nap and Christmas Dinner with her son and daughter-in-law.
"Lots of people came up to me afterwards just to say how wonderful it was and how much they enjoyed it.
"I had a letter this year from a 75-year-old woman who sent me $5 to buy a ticket - we don't sell tickets, but she was lonely and she wanted to come and hadn't had Christmas with people for a while.
"I think those sorts of things are nice. Those are the stories that you think 'oh yeah, this is all worthwhile'."
Volunteer Howard Taylor said he had been helping out at the Christmas lunch for five years, and this year he had brought some friends along who wanted to volunteer, too.
"It's a really enjoyable day. Seeing the little kids' faces when they're so excited to be here, it's really rewarding."
He also raised nearly $1000 for the City Mission through the Become Someone's Angel fundraising drive.
The Christmas Day celebration involved several months of planning by the Auckland City Mission, and hundreds of hours of work contributed by dedicated volunteers over the last few months.
At least 7000 gifts were distributed, so every child had a present to open. The Mission also provided gifts to other Auckland community groups to distribute to the families they work with.
Auckland City Mission's Christmas lunch menu:
Main course: Chicken with gravy, ham, gourmet potatoes, roast kumara, beans and carrots
Dessert: Ice-cream, fruit, jelly and Christmas cake
Extras: Presents, lollies, chocolate, soft drink, cookies and cakes
