Suellen’s sweet Christmas tradition

Jane Mander Retirement Village

The festive season is always a great excuse to indulge your sweet tooth, and this time of year poses the perfect opportunity to bring a real showstopper to the Christmas table.

For Suellen’s family, that showstopper is Croquembouche, an impressive tower of cream puffs bound together with spun sugar that is popular at weddings in France and Italy.

What began as a birthday treat at a local French café has become a cherished Christmas tradition for Suellen and her 17-year-old twin granddaughters, Ellie and Sadie. Every year, the trio gather in Suellen’s apartment at William Sanders Village to cook this festive dessert - a holiday highlight they all treasure.

Click read more for the recipe.

Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.

If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?

Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?

• Summer
• Winter
• Other - I'll share below

Vote View Results

• 61.7% Summer
  61.7% Complete
• 36.6% Winter
  36.6% Complete
• 1.7% Other - I'll share below
  1.7% Complete

1287 votes

Rubbish collections over Christmas

The Team from Whangarei District Council

It's Christmas week! 🎄 Rubbish collections which are usually on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will run one day later to avoid sending the workers out on Christmas Day (Wednesday 25 September 2024).

✅ Back to normal next week (yep even New Years Day)

Massive shout-out to our pick-up crews who are working hard no matter the weather.