Editorial: Take time out to relax with us

I can't help but feel Christmas Day is not quite what it used to be.

I'm now too old to receive a skateboard from Santa, spend the day grazing all four limbs, then crying when I break it that very afternoon (Christmas '93).

Too old to wrestle with my brother until it descends into a fight (Christmas '95 to '03).

I'm too far away to race our crudely fashioned go-kart around the paths of my parents' home until the repeated crashes leave a hole in the fence (Christmas '97).

And I'm too mature to spend several days reminding my younger sister to leave cake and milk for Santa, only for her to catch me eating it on Christmas Eve (Christmas '99).

Although the joy has gone, it has not been replaced by antipathy.

The beer and wine were great. Brilliant in fact.

As was the mountain of food consumed.

And the Christmas spirit lingers, no matter your age.

With the stress and hedonism of Christmas Day now passed, I hope many of you can now sit back and take some time to relax.

To coincide with this, today we launch our Hawke's Bay Today summer series.

Each day's paper will be filled with content ideal for those enjoying some time off, including our local celebrity Q and As, puzzles and our reader photo competition.

For those heading out of town today, enjoy your break and travel safely.