As I stood in the middle of Hagley Oval 30 minutes before the start of play on Boxing Day, I thought, 'this is great'.

A French mayor has been accused of a shameful lack of Christmas spirit after banishing homeless people from the city centre by putting cages over public benches.

Jane Watts said last goodbyes to her severely injured husband five times and could only have dreamed she would spend another Christmas with him.

Every ski run is an act of raw go-it-alone courage.

As Christmas 1914 dawned, Lieutenant Charles Brockbank recorded the moment in his diary.

The Queen's speech was met with positive reaction from people on Twitter, most notably for mentioning her visit to the Game of Thrones set in Belfast back in June.

Photos from Christmas day on an active volcano in Vanuatu.

Brett Grieve, Antarctica Being far from his children on Christmas Day is hard for Major Brett Grieve, but he knows it's all part of his duty.

The first baby born in Bethlehem on Christmas Day was not a boy in a manger but a little girl in the Bay of Plenty.

Auckland's largest Christmas lunch went off almost without a hitch today, with the Auckland City Mission feed more than 2500 people.

Just moments after being unwrapped, unwanted Christmas gifts are being put up for sale online.

Have you ever wondered why children so easily accept that once every year, a terribly generous man travels by magic reindeer to all children across the world?

Handwritten Christmas cards will always stand out from the deluge of e-cards sent out these days, writes Debra Chantry.

From baches to prisons, hospitals to the City Mission, Kiwis from all walks of life will come together today to break bread and share in the festive spirit over Christmas lunch.

Christmas Day will be cloudy for most places around the country, but the weather should be settled enough to avoid rain.

Hospitals can be scary places for kids - so Radio Lollipop's mission is to put a bit of fun into children's wards while they are away from home.

It's the street that comes to life at Christmas time, and once again swarms of people have been turning out to see the Franklin Rd lights.

They had sailed from New Zealand in 2002 and were two years into their adventure when they moored in a bay off Phuket in Thailand for Christmas.

The dangers of working too hard and succumbing to gossip can be found in every office - including the administrative body of the Roman Catholic Church.

A baby was feared to be among the victims as six people died and eight were injured when a rubbish truck careered out of control and into crowds of Christmas shoppers.

We meet families returning home for Xmas.

The Marsden Cross is known to most of us only as a photograph. It is on a remote northern shore in the Bay of Islands, not as accessible as Waitangi or Russell.

Christmas is meant to be a time of happiness and good cheer. Instead I find myself getting very angry.

Police are putting their traffic enforcement focus on holiday black spots to keep the annual road toll from surging above 300 deaths.

It was the first time in 40 years Andrew Welch had not been home for Christmas, his brother Jeremy recalls.