Christmas Day marked with reflection, fun and shared lunch

New Zealanders are celebrating Christmas Day throughout the country, with traditional family get togethers, shared meals, gift giving and Christmas trees.

Here's some of what Christmas looks like this year.

Message of peace, togetherness and reflection

Christians around the country are celebrating Christmas at specially held church services.

The holiday marks the birth of Jesus Christ, and morning services are held to remind worshippers the spiritual meaning of Christmas.

Akinola Dairo, a churchgoer at Auckland's Gracecity Church, told RNZ it was heart-warming to see the community coming together for the day.

"Jesus bands us together, ... together in the spirit of Christ, singing together, rejoicing together, sharing together. Before, during and even after the service.

"People are in the foyer now, giving gifts and sharing their time together."

Lead pastor of the Greenlane church, Chris Porteous, said there was good attendance at this year's Christmas service, with a diverse community from throughout the city.

Auckland's Catholic bishop Steve Lowe says Christians in Aotearoa and around the world have been gathering

"It's a day for us which holds great hope, and I think at the moment our world needs a lot of that - and the Prince of Peace can bring that," Lowe says.

It's an important and hopeful time for everyone, not just Christians.

"Whether you're a Christian, or whatever other faith - or no faith at all, it's a great day to think about peace and the desire for peace, in our world and in our homes."

More Christmas stories:

Sharing the Christmas love

Auckland's City Mission is providing Christmas Day lunch to scores more people than last year.

It will host hundreds of rough sleepers, City Mission residents, and people who would otherwise be alone.

The dining area was set up yesterday and the chef has been carving ham this morning.

Head of fundraising Joe Rich says there were about 450 people last year but the Mission is prepared for 600 later today.

It will be a traditional big Christmas meal of ham, vegetables, pavlova and treats, he says.

Subdued pre-Christmas spending

Today, New Zealand houses are filled with the sounds of presents being unwrapped, Christmas meals being prepared and enjoyed, and toasts to the day. But yesterday, the ching ching of cash registers resounded everywhere.

Christmas Eve was the busiest shopping day of the year, with just under 10,000 sales a minute at its peak.

Payments company Worldline says the peak was midday to 1pm, when more than 563,000 sales were recorded on its network.

The company does not have a value for the spending, but says the peak number of transactions was the lowest in the past six years and well shy of the record 679,000 in 2019.

Worldline noted sales picked up last week, but overall pre-Christmas shopping was lower than a year ago.

Christmas Day power cut

More than 1000 Christchurch residents awoke to no power on Christmas morning.

Power company Orion said 1400 properties in the suburbs of Beckenham, Cashmere, Huntsbury, St Martins, and Sydenham were affected. But the lights and power were back on by about 9am.

Santa fun run

Earlier in December, a sea of red flooded Hobsonville on 18 December, as hundreds of Santas in sneakers dashed for cash, for a good cause.

The inaugural 5 kilometre fun run and walk was organised by the Early Bird Run Crew and raised funds for West Auckland Hospice.

Nearly 600 runners showed up.

Club founder Duncan Oswald said themed runs and dressing up for events made it a lot of fun and the cause they had chosen to support touched a personal note with many of the crew who were involved.

Teo enjoying retirement and Christmas at home

Teo the police dog has worked to fight crime for seven years, but was retired after being injured in early October from falling into hot geothermal water during a search operation in Rotorua.

She has been nursed back to health by a team of vets and nurses, and her handler Constable Adam Johannsen.

Johannsen says Teo's just about back to full health now, and is home for Christmas.

"She's quite a remarkable dog and just doesn't give up," he said.

Christmas trees decorating city centres

Auckland's Britomart is home to the 18.5m Te Manaaki Christmas tree. This year it is bedecked with 10,000 LEDs, 200 stainless steel baubles, and thousands of flowers.

Reactions to it have been mixed, with some loving the decorations jollying up the city centre, and others not convinced.

People RNZ spoke to in Dunedin were also unconvinced by their city's tree, in The Octagon.

While a tree constructed by volunteers in Featherston was destroyed by vandals.

In Wellington, the city council has put up three large Christmas trees in different spots, including a film-themed tree in Courtenay Place, a sea-themed tree on Queen's Wharf, and a more traditional tree in the city centre's Midland Park. The city's well-loved Bucket Fountain was also decorated for Christmas.

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