The annual Christmas Party is the perfect opportunity to kick back and celebrate a great year with your colleagues over a drink or two ... or is it?

It seems you can't keep a creepy Santa down, writes Shelley Bridgeman. The gigantic Santa is set to grace (or should that be disgrace?) Auckland's Queen Street for yet another festive season.

First it was the great Lewis Road Creamery Whittaker's chocolate milk shortage of 2014; then it was reports that Creepy Santa was being consigned to oblivion.

Some call him creepy, others call him a piece of cultural history - either way Auckland's giant Santa has been saved from early retirement.

Santa has been saved, with a family-owned company pledging money to keep him on Auckland's main street.

Aucklanders are facing Christmas without the city's larger-than-life Santa. The big man's banned after Heart of the City said it couldn't afford the $180k installation.

Starting a Christmas savings scheme will make shopping less stressful and the way you save will make a big difference to how much cash you'll have.

The original Christian saint of secret gift-giving and children was St Nicholas, a fourth-century Greek bishop, whose feast day is December 6.

When TV chef Sachie Nomura arrived from Japan almost 17 years ago, she couldn't get over the size of NZ's vegetables.

In a show of holiday spirit, Greymouth residents have rallied to help a boy who lost his Christmas money when he went to spend it on Boxing Day.

Christmas is especially tough for Evans Mott. His wife Rosie shared a final Christmas Day with family before ending her life two years ago today.

Yesterday's manic Boxing Day sales were the busiest ever, according to new Paymark figures.

A shopping trolley of 15 items was $1,500 cheaper on Boxing Day - a saving of 26 per cent on Christmas prices - according to a Herald survey of a popular mall.

In her annual Christmas message Queen Elizabeth II calls upon people of faith to take time in the new year to pause for reflection and contemplation. She acknowledges the birth of a new child and the joy the occasion brings.

Shoppers will descend on the Boxing Day sales today - but NZers have already splurged nearly $500m more than they did four years ago on Christmas shopping.

Door procedures were tightened at the Auckland City Mission Christmas dinner yesterday after a group of Chinese tourists ate there for free last year.

A gold iPhone 5s, a $600 keyboard and an inflatable remote-controlled dolphin were some of the unwanted gifts that flooded Trade Me on Christmas Day.