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.

A booming Christmas shopping period and an overall annual spending jump shows a return to pre-global financial crisis consumer confidence levels, retail experts say.

The week after New Year is a testing time for resolutions to correct a bad habit. But it is a good time to make one new one - tackle the 'obesity epidemic'.

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.

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.

Do you know the happy couple who got engaged in front of hundreds of shoppers at Auckland's St Luke's mall yesterday?

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.

Check out the day's best Christmas photos from around the world.

Here's a round-up of some of the slightly more out-there Christmas customs.

Kiwi celebrities share their Christmas Day plans.