Bringing smiles back to the faces of Nuku'alofa shoppers, the annual Christmas Bonanza $5,000 giveaway held by Western Union on Saturday, saw families filling their trolleys with the warmth and joy of Christmas.

The Bonanza was one of a few Christmas events that went ahead, in a year where Christmas has been stolen from Nuku'alofa, and many firms were forced to cancel their Christmas parties and promotions.

Traditionally, the Western Union Tonga Christmas Bonanza is held at the Molisi Tonga Supermarket, which was destroyed on November 16. So the Bonanza moved out of central Nuku'alofa and was held in a make-shift TCF Supermarket set up in a warehouse at Ma'ufanga, opposite the Small Industries Center.

The highlight is the One-Minute $1,905 grocery shopping spree, and this year's winner was To'a Taumoha'apai. Within one minute on Saturday To'a filled up his shopping trolley with six-pound cans of corn beef, then topped it up with a few bowls of ice cream.

Lusitania Nakao of Western Union Tonga confirmed that about $5,000 pa'anga worth of prizes, including the $1,905 shopping spree were given away on Saturday. There were also cash prizes of $50, $250 and $100 for winners of raffle tickets that were given to Western Union customers during October, November and December, as well as other giveaway prizes.

"This is an annual fun event held by Western Union Tonga during the past years as a way to give back something to its customers", said Lusitania.