Tis the season to be...? Christmas can mean so many different things for so many different people and I thought I had a good idea of what that was about - until I spent Christmas in New Zealand. Be honest and take a moment to fill in the blank at the end of the first question.... What did you think? Joy, family, sharing, fun, parties? Or did you think major debt? We've all seen the madness that seems to envelope some people at this time of year, they max out everything they own, re-mortgage the house and spend all the so-called leisure time getting presents that they think others "need". But you ain't seen nothing until you reach NZ, they take Christmas buying to a whole new dimension. As I said in my other Wellington postcard we arrived at the end of November and it was already in full swing, if I didn't know the date I'd guess it at December 23rd everyday. It didn't matter whether it was a weekday or a weekend, the streets were buzzing. People slapping each others calves with hard edged shopping bags, pushing the vulnerable (old people, babies and me), trampling over each other in eagerness to enter a store at opening time - in fact this did happen in OZ, whilst watching a news special it showed people pushing so hard that others were thrown to the floor and trampled on, thankfully no one got seriously hurt. It is CRAZY! So let's move onto the sales - they don't just have January sales, they have all year sales which take on a whole new frenzied attack during December. There is a sale for this day, that day, this weekend, because we felt like it, because we should, because everyone is doing - they don't even have proper reasons for sales. Which leads to what you are going to buy people for Christmas - one advert sticks in my mind more than any of the others, a jewellery store whose tag line was "get me something small for Christmas...?" Like this $10,000 (that's over 3000 pound) ring. But it didn't stop there it was buy me: a new jeep, a new house, a new washing machine, a new BBQ - nothing was to extravagant for these people - items moved from shelves and forecourts that I could smell the burn, and I'm not talking about the rubber burning. Another news report evaluated how much people had spent over Christmas and it was in the stupidly high millions - not too much you say, but remember that there are less people living in this entire country than in London. I dread to think of those first credit card bills after the Christmas period, I felt sick and I wasn't even having to worry about it. My time in NZ over Christmas certainly made me think a lot more about what is important about the time. And being removed from the usual worry about what to buy your mother allowed me to watch a fever grip the nation and made me vow I would never get swept up in that kind of thing. In fact, my suggestion is make sure you're abroad when Christmas hits as then it doesn't matter what you send your parents as they will appreciate anything you think of sending them!