Kiwis are more likely to spend the Christmas break flipping the bird at the year that's been than celebrating the one to come, Jacinda Ardern says, following a dismal 2020 derailed by the coronavirus.
The Prime Minister made the surprising remark in an interview with radio station ZM on Friday morning, during Fletch, Vaughan and Megan's final breakfast show for the year.
She told the radio hosts 2020 had been "quite the year", and made a bold prediction about how Kiwis would likely be spending New Year's Eve.
"I think the 31st is going to be less of a celebration of 2021 and more of a middle finger to 2020," she told the hosts.
"My message is thank you. Amazing people have helped get us here - scientists, epidemiologists - but none of it would have worked without Kiwis.
"It takes everyone to stop a virus and we've done that."
Ardern said that while a vaccine rollout is on the cards for early 2021 - a development that's likely to ease the pressure on New Zealand's border to be watertight - she won't be having much time off during Christmas.
"I'll have my phone with me the whole time - but that's as it should be when we're in a pandemic!" she laughed.
"We've done that [got four vaccines] because there's a number of them in development and some are really successful, some are less successful. So we've gone for four just to give us some options."
The Prime Minister also revealed she's well-behind on her Christmas shopping, and had been amongst the surge of Kiwis turning to online stores for presents this year.
Unfortunately, a delivery error meant a "lovely builder in Grey Lynn" mistakenly received one of her gifts - although he was kind enough to put it in her letterbox.
In an interview with Newshub last year, Ardern said she "doesn't really switch off" during Christmas, as she has to be "available and at the ready" if something happens.
Ardern said she's the "first to acknowledge" it's not easy to switch off for Christmas and the holidays. But that doesn't stop her from looking forward to it, especially if it means spending time with her whānau.
"I love Christmas. Love it. If I had my way it would be 100 percent Christmas carols, novelty jumpers and decorations for weeks - and New Zealand will not thank me for it.
"The job or responsibility doesn't end, ever really. But so long as I'm lucky to be spending time with family, you'll hear no complaints from me."
Ardern became the second world leader to give birth while in office in June 2018. This year marks her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Neve's third Christmas.
