Most jobs involve doing some sort of work we don't actually want to do. Even people with dream jobs still usually have something that irks them. It may be filing, it may be phone sales, it may be a certain task your department must do at a certain time every year.
My suspicion is that Santa may see New Zealand as that one part of the job he dislikes. Sure, Kiwi kids probably give him more beer, milk, biscuits and cake than any other nation (we're generous) but, if attending a Santa parade is anything to go by, poor Santa may have reason to complain to Occupational Safety and Health.
Not only is he battling obesity but in New Zealand he must contend with heat and humidity while wearing his big, thick, woolly jacket and thick winter boots. None of this minus-30C North Pole cold. Instead, it's more like 30-plus degree Canterbury or Hawke's Bay heat.
I recently returned from the US and Canada where Christmas lights, trees and tinsel were in place on November 1, right after Halloween. As trees lost their leaves and the days got shorter, darker and colder, the magic of Christmas lights and decorations became more apparent.
Back in New Zealand, the tinsel outdoors just looks tacky among our beautiful early summer gardens, or our own native Christmas tree, the pohutukawa. The sea is blue, the trees are green, New Zealand is beautiful at the moment.
