The first news of the month was a gloomy reflection that Hawke's Bay was batting well down the order in a regional economic "scoreboard".
That was according to the quarterly ASB/Main report, which placed the Bay at No 15 of the 16 regions, saying it reflected a "weakness" in the household sector, with a decline in retail sales, house prices and residential construction.
Hawke's Bay was suddenly one-star, on a 1-5 scale. No one got a "5", but Auckland did get a "4."
It was not new, said Chamber of Commerce boss Murray Douglas, adding it showed things had to be done to keep the economy ticking over.
That may have been taken just a bit too literally by a Hastings man, who, just as Christmas arrived, was charged with shoplifting more than $5500 worth of goods from big-box retailers in Napier, at an average of more than $1000 worth a time.
Nevertheless, there were a couple of looming big events, not to mention lots of big cruise ships, which would bring thousands into Napier during the summer.
The first of the events, the third annual Ironmaori, was a reflection on the continuing reflection on the popularity of multisports events, with their mixed bag of opportunity in running, cycling and kayaking or swimming.
This year the Ironmaori was held in Napier on December 3, with 1550 competitors in individual or team categories.
The other big event was the Optimist yachting world championships which, by Christmas, had representatives of about 50 countries in town, for two days of warm-up racing ahead of the big event starting on New Year's Day.
It made it the biggest sports event held in Hawke's Bay in terms of the number of countries represented.
A particularly early arrival was 14-year-old Mexican sailor Hector Guzman, who arrived in the Bay at Labour Weekend.
It was sort of "young people's month", not necessarily al gud (that's text lingo for "all good").
Among the other successes was that of an 18-year-old pupil of Napier Girls' High School, named Miss Hawke's Bay 2012 during ceremonies in Napier's War Memorial Conference Centre on December 10. She is Alexandra Bullot, who also plans a career in fashion design.
Not long ago a teenager, Napier cricketer Doug Bracewell, 21, became a sudden national hero when he claimed six second-innings wickets in New Zealand's first win over Australia in Australia for 26 years. With more than a day to play, the Aussies had been cruising at 159-2 chasing 240 for victory, and were all out for 233.
The downside for our youngsters was manifested in incidents of violence and dishonesty, sometimes played-out in our courtrooms.
Two incidents of violence attracted particular attention. In the first, three teenaged Australian students were robbed on Napier's Marine Parade, and in the second a 14-year-old girl was badly injured in an assault by fellow school pupils.
Reacting to other incidents, judges warned of the consequences, by jailing two 16-year-olds for three years and nine months for the robbery and bashing of a 14-year-old in his Flaxmere home, and an 18-year-old was sentenced to four years and five months for his part in a Saturday night street attack on strangers in Hastings in June.
Judges also warned teenage burglars that if they thought they could break into people's homes, they would almost certainly find themselves also going to jail.
There was also a warning about general disorder on the streets when the Napier City Council agreed on yet another liquor ban, this time around the Marewa Village shopping centre, taking effect from January 18. But Mayor Barbara Arnott signalled a possible review of policy, concerned that the gradual introduction of bans, starting from the city centre in 2004, may be just shifting problems from one area to another. Also being shifted from one area to another, maybe, is the diesel-fired Whirinaki power plant which the Government sold in December to the former state-owned Contact Energy, at a pretty price of $33 million.
But even before the ink was dry it was back in use supplying electricity to the National Grid because of a Huntly power station failure which disrupted supply from Wellington to Auckland, amid suggestions it will again be dismantled and relocated.
There's been a station on the site north of Napier for more than 30 years, but it was decommissioned, and the plant dispersed, and then it was recommissioned again in 2004, being used as a standby operation.
Swarming bees caused a few problems in the spring and early summer, and in a more unusual case descended on the shopping precinct in Hastings. A young busker carried on playing, but shopkeepers nearby weren't too happy and called in the council and beekeepers.
Movie crews worked for more than a week in the house which was at the centre of the Napier siege. It was announced about the same time the all-clear had been given to sell the Chaucer Rd property, which had been owned by gunman Jan Molenaar when he opened fire on police in May 2009, in a last stand protecting his cannabis enterprise. The property was seized by the Crown in legal procedures under the Proceeds of Crimes Act.
Two explosions caused serious injury. In one incident a woman's home in Nuhaka was also destroyed, apparently as she turned on a gas stove in the morning, while a man was hit in a mid-morning blast at a scrap and vehicle recycling workshop in Hastings.
There was a miracle just before Christmas when a fire started in a 131-year-old church at Porangahau and burnt out before anyone noticed, causing minimal damage. Vestry chairperson Carol Tipene was astounded the wooden building was not destroyed.
The year ended with the New Year Honours announced, as has become tradition, in the old year.
The Bay's lot comprised two from Napier (rugby identity Ian MacRae and charity worker and piper Kerry Marshall), one from Hastings (nurse Sharon Payne) and one from Wairoa (outdoors man Walter Rofe).
Among the others were Wellington's new "Sir" Des Britten, who went to Napier Boys' High School, and Dunedin computer-imaging Ian Taylor, who grew up in Raupunga.