‘We make sure each baby wakes up to a stocking filled with presents’
While working in Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary neonatal unit we make sure Santa visits every baby on Christmas Eve. Each baby (and their family) wakes up to a wee stocking bulging with presents. – nimmynumbnut
‘I was lonely that night and took it out on the policeman’
I was in the US Army for three years – 26 months of which was at Miesau, then in West Germany . I spent three Christmases there. My last Christmas there I was with friends at an enlisted men’s club drinking on Christmas Eve. Talk had been about going to midnight mass in a town nearby, but we didn’t. I was saddened by not going so I started back toward the barracks and for some reason I got mouthy at someone nearby. Turned out to be a military policeman who promptly took me to the guard shack and had a company officer come collect me. He wasn’t pleased. Other than a verbal reprimand nothing else come of it. I was just lonely that night and took it out on that policeman. I rotated back home less than a month later. Years later I became a police officer and spent many Christmases working. It wasn’t always fun, there were too many domestic violence calls. So to all of you who work on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, take care this year. – David Dominguez
‘We feel differently about Christmas when it’s stolen from us’
On the day before Christmas I will be at the children’s hospital where I work and I’ll be bummed. As always, though, I will feel bad about being bummed because it’s so much worse for the people I’m at work for. Last year, on the day before Christmas, I put in a chemotherapy port for a child diagnosed with osteosarcoma the previous week. After my case came another child from intensive care whose clothing caught fire while she was fiddling with matches. Down in casualty, I saw a young child with tuberculosis of the skull. In the resuscitation unit across the passage, a pair of parents learned that their toddler’s squint was the result of a brain tumour. When I think about all of that, I can see the importance of Christmas. It’s easy to ridicule something we take for granted, but we feel differently when it is stolen from us. This Christmas I’ll try to spend the hours at work gracefully and resentment-free. The hours I get to spend at home I’ll savour and be thankful for. – anonymous
‘You serve happy families while knowing yours are celebrating without you’
The flexible hours waitressing provides are usually ideal for a student like myself. However, with a busy exam schedule in January and work commitments over the festive period it becomes ever more difficult to find time for studying and seeing friends. I would love to say working Christmas Day is a delight, but I absolutely hate it: serving happy families when you know yours is behaving in the exact same way at home without you. – Sophie Richardson
‘I watched my children open presents over Skype’
While working at the Ironbridge power station in 2014 I had to work 12-hour shifts and watch my children opening presents via Skype. It brought it home how wonderful our Christian festival is and how important families are. I will be at home this year but my thoughts will be with all those who have to work over Christmas and New Year. – guardianUser11805435
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