The Black Caps captain and wife Ellissa welcomed their third child - a baby girl - into the world in the morning.
And in the evening, he was named Otago sportsman and overall sportsperson of the year at the Otago Sports Awards.
McCullum had an extraordinary summer for the national team. His match-saving triple century against India at the Basin Reserve was one of those sporting moments that instantly became part of folklore.
It was a gutsy, 13-hour marathon effort that captured the nation's imagination. He became the first New Zealander to reach the milestone, and his innings was a wonderful addition to the double century he struck earlier in the series.
The good news would have been warmly received after a week in which McCullum discovered his testimony to the ICC's anti-corruption and security unit had been leaked to the media.
McCullum is the first cricketer to win the overall Otago award since it was introduced in 1990. And, while not quite on the scale of those two events, there was a third reason for McCullum to celebrate yesterday. Between the birth of his daughter and the announcement of the award, galloper El Dorado Sun, part-owned by McCullum, won at Oamaru.
