For most of us, the worst thing about Christmas and New Year feasts is the excessive amount of food we gorge over the festive season.

For many athletes at the Special Olympics Howick-Pakuranga club, playing sport with their mates each week is the highlight of their lives.

There are fisticuffs over ornamental garden features. There is eye gouging over ferret-patterned coasters. There is battering to death of underpaid shop girls with relaxation candles.

Consumers are feeling more cheerful going into the peak Christmas trading period, the ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey has found.

These guys have paid as much attention to decorating their beard as they would their Christmas tree, attaching anything from robin's nests to candy canes.

Just what do you get our top movers and shakers for Christmas? Helpfully, Toby Manhire has compiled a list of ideal options (so you don't have to).

When your job description involves saving lives, you need to be well-equipped.

Hundreds of families from as far away as Hamilton are queuing at the Auckland City Mission for help to put food on the table this Christmas.

Employers are changing the way they run Xmas parties to cater for more diverse workplaces, including an increase in Muslims who don't eat ham or drink alcohol.

Holiday dinners could be put on hold after of a large number of Christmas hams, salamis and steaks were stolen from a Nelson butcher, police say.

Far from experiencing peace and goodwill at Christmas, nearly half of men admit to feeling sad or depressed over the festive season.

Radiant summer weather made a brief call to the North Island at the weekend, attracting hardy bathers into the still-cool water at beaches and creating a run on icecream.

Well-known Kiwis tell the Herald on Sunday about the worst presents they’ve received. Cherie Howie reports.

Christmas is a time for giving — and taking, and your powers of persuasion can play a big part when it comes to securing that dream gift.

Celebrity chefs and restaurateurs have banded together to ask diners to help feed needy Kiwis this Christmas.

The killing of big Maori surfer dude Tony Williams on the Gold Coast at Christmas three years ago barely makes sense.

Those giving fly swats or tea towels for Christmas this year may want to think again - they have been voted among the worst presents Kiwis have received.

Santa lands in Auckland today but if you want to see him, use public transport and arrive early.

Smoke alarms are not most people's idea of a Christmas present, but the Fire Service wants us to think about them anyway.

Edibles essential for a Kiwi Christmas have risen by up to $6 an item in the past decade, an informal Herald comparison has shown.

There have been near-disasters with Christmas floats crashing into buildings, rain wrecking the displays and a cat giving birth mid-parade - but the Farmers Santa Parade is still going strong and continues to annually draw a huge crowd.

Ever wondered how Father Christmas gets around the whole world in one night? Why no one sees him delivering presents? How he fits down the chimney? Or how the nose of Santa’s trusted navigator, Rudolph, came to glow? Professor Steve Pointing and Professor Allan Blackman explain some of the unanswered mysteries of Father Christmas’good work in this video. Courtesy AUT University/YouTube

Kiwi retailers are today hoping to cash in on "Black Friday", America's biggest shopping day of the year, by luring consumers with promises of big discounts on goods ahead of Christmas.

Celebrating the Christmas season doesn't need to be at the expense of the environment. Consider spreading some of your festive goodwill to the planet that sustains us all.

The Christmas madness is about to begin and for many retailers the stakes have never been higher, writes Business Editor Liam Dann.

Although the events shown in the Sainsbury's Christmas ad are fictional, they tried to make the details as accurate as possible. Everything from the insignia on the men's uniform to the depth of the trenches is based on historical fact. In this short documentary Sainsbury's talk to the experts who advised, interviewed the grandson of a soldier who was there, and hear first-hand accounts from both sides. Footage: Sainsbury's/YouTube

An Auckland mother and retail worker wants to make sure no one misses out this Christmas.