KEY POINTS:
As New Zealanders wake up today with their families, unwrap their presents and hopefully enjoy some better weather than yesterday, Kiwis overseas with our Defence Forces are celebrating Christmas a bit differently.
The video shows special Christmas messages from our guys and girls overseas.
Kiwi forces around the world
In Afghanistan the are 138 New Zealand Defence Force personnel - New Zealand has been involved in the long-time hot spot since 2003.
Five of those work at the International Stabilisation Assistance Force (ISAF) HQ in Kabul, two help train the Afghanistan National Army, two work at the Canadian Multinational Hospital in Kandahar, and one works for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
The rest work in the NZ Provicincial Reconstruction Team based in Bamyan Province.
Three NZDF staff will spend Christmas Day in Korea. They're there to support the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC), created to supervise the Armistice Agreement of 1953 which was signed at the end of the Korean War. New Zealand helps to monitor the borders of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which separates North and South Korea.
The biggest overseas force is in the fraught Timor-Leste region - 156 personnel. Five of these are assisting the Timor-Leste Defence Force (F-FDTL), and two are with the United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT). The remaining personnel are supporting the International Stabilisation Force (ISF).
