Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

6:06 Sugar and Spice's Christmas Morning

Christmas fairies Sugar and Spice (Katrina Batten and Catriona McLeod) are back to get your Christmas morning off to an entertaining start and put you in a festive mood for the rest of the day with a mix of fables and stories old and new, interviews, music, festive messages….and a few surprises.

This year’s Christmas Church Service at 7:06am comes from Pitt Street Methodist Church in central Auckland. Conducting the service is the Reverend Doctor Lynne Frith and leading the Pitt Street Methodist Choir is director Robert Howell. Organist Colin Waters accompanies.

Hymns and songs include Joy to the world, Come now Lord Jesus, Bring in your new world, Love came down at Christmas, and O come all ye faithful, and the choir sings Ding dong Merrily on High and Hodie Christus Natus Est. Join us for a service of worship and thanks from this vibrant, multicultural city church.

10:00 An Aro Valley Christmas

We visit the Christmas Tree sellers in Aro Valley, Wellington. Mike Regan and his son Toby began selling trees fundraising for the local school in Aro Valley 35 years ago. And they still take part now with Toby's son Casper. And across the road at Arobake, Max Fuhrer makes the European festive bread Stollen - we visit to see it being made then give it the taste test with a helping of kirsch.

Mike Regan with his son Toby selling trees in Aro Valley 35 years ago

12:00 The World at Noon

A roundup of today's national and international news

12:12 Spectrum

Coal Range Day. Fancy some ginger gems, hot cheese scones, or colonial goose, cooked on a coal range stove? Justin Gregory is on hand when the old Shacklock coal range at Cornwall Park's historic Huia Lodge is fired up (RNZ)

2:05 Christmas at St Brides - with Jethro Tull and the St Brides Choir

A 2008 benefit concert at St Brides Anglican Church in London's Fleet Street with proceeds going to charities for the Homeless. Jethro Tull join the St Brides Choir and organist Robert Jones for a programme of religious and secular Christmas songs. The Rev George Pitcher and Ian Anderson share the order of service (EMI)

3:04 A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

The classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge and the three ghosts of who help him discover joy and the spirit of Christmas (Radio Spirits)

4:06 Backstage at the Met

In the first of a two-part series, Paul Bushnell goes through the stage door at New York's Metropolitan Opera to find out how it works. His backstage interviews feature a wide range of the key people who get the productions onstage and make it run, including the General Manager Peter Gelb (Pt 1 of 2, RNZ)

5:00 The World at Five

A roundup of today's national and international news

5:12 Spiritual Outlook

Exploring different spiritual, moral and ethical issues and topics (BBC)

5:36 Ships in the Night, by Frankie McMillan

As Irene sits alone in her car it begins to dawn on her that what goes round, comes round (RNZ)

6:06 The Queen's Message

Queen Elizabeth II with her annual message to the Commonwealth (BBC)

7:06 World Book Club

Harriet Gilbert talks to Colm Toibin about his book 'Brooklyn', a haunting tale of love, loss and familial duty, as it follows the fortunes of a young Irish woman who leaves home to make a new life for herself in 1950s New York (BBC)

8:06 A Prairie Home Companion

The award-winning American radio show presented by Garrison Keillor (NPR)

10:00 The World at Ten

A roundup of today's national and international news

10:15 Solander's Legacy

There were two botanists on board the Endeavour when it arrived in New Zealand in 1769, but most people have heard only of Joseph Banks. Justin Gregory tells the story of the other botanist - Daniel Solander (RNZ)

11:06 Christmas Church Service

A repeat broadcast of our service from Pitt Street Methodist Church in central Auckland (RNZ)