Mary Lambie spent last Christmas lugging her three young children to Lapland to meet the "real" Mr Claus.

Winning lotto ticket a bonus in Auckland man's annual handmade Christmas card from his 13-year-old son.

The holiday is over and that sinking feeling has set in - it's back to work, back to reality.

Warehouse shares have fallen after the retail giant said sales had fallen 2.7 per cent over the past two months.

Customers claim businesses are being greedy in adding surcharges on days not officially holidays.

A young man speeding at 174 km/h because he was 'late for lunch' is one example of some appalling driving in the holiday break.

A remote-controlled toy plane given to a teenager for Christmas nearly claimed his family's lives after it set their house on fire.

Most of us are just plain worn out, yet we long to create and achieve the kind of holiday time sold to us by the media.

Holidaymakers faced huge traffic jams north and south yesterday as they tried to leave Auckland.The Northern Gateway toll road and the Kopu Bridge entry to Coromandel Peninsula were jammed as thousands deserted the city.

Matisse Reid's celebration of her 10th birthday and Christmas Day came to a halt when she was taken back into intensive care.

Central Christchurch retailers hit by the Boxing Day aftershock say it wiped out three months of economic recovery.

More than 12,000 items were added to the Trade Me website between 4pm and midnight on Christmas Day.

All the gifts Kiwis never wanted made their way on to Trade Me within hours of being received.