After that, as a boy growing up, Christmas was spent with his mother and her side of the family or his father and his side of the family.
"It is all about family for as far back as I can remember," the New Zealand First MP said.
Now that he was married with his own children, Christmas Day had settled into a pattern of a champagne breakfast followed by an afternoon on nearby Omanu Beach where the family swam, played beach games and fired up the barbecue.
Christmas in the Mitchell family also saw their children select pre-loved toys and put them under the Christmas tree in the Children's Ward at Tauranga Hospital.
"The presents are for kids that do not have the same luck and fortune."
This Christmas was also the first in 20 years that he had not owned a pub. He has just sold Mount Mellick to Matamata father and son team Carl and Trevor Willetts.
His New Year resolution was to spend as much time with his family as could be fitted around a busy life as a parliamentarian.
Mr Mitchell said the best way to describe how he felt about his new career was that it was a bit like Alice in Wonderland. He was well and truly out of his depth but was remedying this by knowing his subject matter and doing the best he could in as short a time as possible.
He will be heading down to Stewart Island mid January to assess the risk to swimmers and paua divers from the consent issued by DoC for a great white shark tourist business where thrillseekers will be lowered in cages to view sharks drawn by bloody bait.
"No one is looking after the safety and wellbeing of the divers ... the sharks will associate food with humans in the water."
He will also be campaigning for Surf Life Saving New Zealand to become an official emergency service provider.
