Opinion: Something disturbing about Christmas Day shopping

Christmas Day should be a shopping-free day. PHOTO/FILE

They say there's something magical about Christmas.

While all the fun of Christmas is the preparation, the hype, the madness, the Christmas parties, the work drinkies, spending money on the kids, decorating and wrapping presents, there's something certainly magical about taking a big breath on the day itself and relaxing.

It's the one day of the year when you get together with family - admittedly some that you might not have seen all year but should have - and just talk, catch up, play games, eat food and have good old-fashioned fun.

The stress of everything leading up to that day disappears and most of us genuinely relax.

That's how I feel most Christmas Days, but this year I was almost disturbed when I had several emails coming through on my iPhone from retailers advertising pre-Boxing Day sales.

"Get in quick", "shop now", "grab the early bargains", they all said.

Suddenly I felt under pressure again.

Of course I could have just left my phone in my bag and not read the emails, but some of us aren't that good at switching off completely.

I'm not a religious type and in the past I've been behind our local council and MPs fighting for Easter Sunday trading.

To me Easter isn't as family focused as Christmas. People tend to go to church or do the Easter egg thing with their kids, then carry on with a normal day off like every other holiday throughout the year.

There's nothing wrong with shops opening on Easter Sunday, especially in tourist towns like Rotorua.

For the first time this year on Christmas Day, I noticed big companies posting advertising on Facebook encouraging shoppers to check out their websites and buy now to beat the rush.

It made me feel a bit sad. Christmas Day shouldn't be a time to snag bargains, even if it is from the comfort of your smartphone.