Star treatment: Sue Anderson, right, and daughter Gina with the white gold and diamond eternity ring she bought during a $4000 shopping spree she won as part of a radio competition searching for Marlborough's Christmas Star.
Blenheim grandmother Sue Anderson had to fight her natural desire to buy presents for others after winning a $4000 shopping spree at Michael Hill Jeweller.
Mrs Anderson won the Classic Hits Christmas Star competition which called for people to nominate someone who had done something good this year.
Her youngest daughter, Gina Anderson, entered her mother in the competition because she helps raise Miss Anderson's two young children and also for helping her through postnatal depression.
Her mother would even go to her house at 2am if her children were sick, she said.
"I've had postnatal depression with both my children and my mum has been my rock. She has walked every step of the journey with me and never once have I heard her grumble," Miss Anderson wrote in her entry.
Mrs Anderson, a mother of four and grandmother of seven, was speechless when she received the phone call from the radio station on Tuesday and immediately said she would use it to buy presents for her children and grandchildren despite strong protests from her daughter.
It was difficult to spend the money on herself rather than the rest of her family, she said.
Mrs Anderson took about an hour to spend the money and bought a diamond ring, earrings, a charm bracelet, a watch for her husband of 38 years and a watch to replace her own, which had broken.
She found the whole experience humbling and said her children and grandchildren always came first.
"I don't spend money on myself – it's not necessary. There's always something else to spend it [money] on," she said.
"You don't do it [help the family] for recognition, you just do it."
At first Mrs Anderson was busy looking at prices rather than what she liked in the store's display cases and said she "felt sick" about spending $4000 just on one person.
Mrs Anderson was expecting a busy Christmas at the family's Springlands home with all 17 of her children, their partners and grandchildren there for the big day, including her son and his wife who are flying back from London.
Mrs Anderson also received a $200 Cerise Home and Giftware voucher and a $200 Pampers Escape spa voucher.
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