This Christmas Hawke's Bay Today is publishing the festive day memories of people who have made the news in 2011.
Today on page 5, for example, art adviser Judith Anderson reveals that one of her earliest Christmas memories was a crushed box of melted chocolates which arrived from relatives in
the US. "In our poor rural family this was on the same scale as a baby Jesus miracle," she says.
If you think back, it is generally the simplest of Christmas moments which linger strongest in our memories.
When I was a child it was all about trying to stay awake to catch out Santa (we never did), the sheer excitement of waking up to find a pillowslip at the end of the bed with a few small presents, a handful of lollies plus a piece of fruit (always a piece of fruit) inside.
Then, sometimes before and sometimes after breakfast, dad playing Father Christmas, handing out the bigger presents from under the tree to four excited little boys, one small girl and our mother.
