Editorial: Season full of festive stress

Friends and relatives of the deceased comfort each other at the scene on Fisher Crescent, Otara, where Chevy Midas Davis, 24, was killed.

'Tis the season to be jolly. Well, that's how the saying goes.

A cursory look at what is going on around the place seems to be anything but jolly.

A homicide investigation was launched after a 21st birthday party ended in tragedy in South Auckland early yesterday morning.

Chevy Midas Davis, 24, is dead and his cousin is in hospital after the incident in Fisher Cres, Otara. Both men were attending a 21st party for one of their relatives.

Last week, over the ditch, eight children aged between 18 months and 15 years were found dead at a home in the city of Cairns, after a gruesome mass stabbing. Then who could forget the events which unfolded in the Lindt Cafe in Sydney on Monday, where a man armed with a gun held 13 people hostage, two of whom died after the ordeal, carried out for several hours?

This time of year is meant to be one where people get along. We give presents, we spend quality time together, and we enjoy the company of our friends and families.

A little bit closer to home and a little bit less extreme, people are frantically rushing around getting last-minute presents and supplies for the all important Christmas lunch or dinner.

Going to any supermarket or major store this close to Christmas could almost be tantamount to torture.

Everyone is rushing around in a frantic, stressed out, paranoid state hoping they can get the right gifts, at the right price, and before anyone else has the chance to steal their great gift idea.

In Saturday's Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, it was reported that Paymark figures showed Bay shoppers spent $147.5 million in the first two weeks of December compared to $140.3 million for the same period last year. I don't mean to sound like a grinch but this is one of my pet hates about the festive season.

There is so much pressure to spend ridiculous amounts of money to buy things for people that they don't want or need.

I'm all for the festivities of Christmas but people need to calm down, relax and decide if they really need to go overboard with the presents and the stress of the silly season.