Image Credit: Compilation/Jennifer Stahn

As Christmas comes and goes, we will all think about the gifts we received and those we gave. And while most of us celebrate the holidays with loved ones, there are those who are working, often unnoticed. Their work on Christmas Day is a gift to all of us.

If you need to buy gas, or a jug of milk there’s someone at a gas station or convenience store ready to help you. There are even a few liquor stores open for that emergency bottle of wine. Fast food restaurants are open to serve the travelling public, and there are a few fancy restaurants open as well for a traditional Christmas dinner.

Even though it is Christmas, or especially because it is, there are special dinners being cooked by volunteers at a few places around town on the 25th. One that is happening on Christmas Day is the Jumpstart Dinner, held at the old Costsavers at the corner of Royal Avenue and Tranquille Avenue in Kamloops. This is just one of many dinners in the week leading up to Christmas that gives people who are not as fortunate a chance to enjoy a turkey dinner.

Every fire hall in town, and every ambulance station is staffed, waiting for the call. There are cops driving around keeping an eye on things, and responding to calls for help. Hopefully there won’t be too many calls for emergency services on Christmas Day. But it’s reassuring knowing they are there.

At hospice, there are the nurses and the caregivers, caring for people near the end of their lives. Even on Christmas Day, they are there for their patients and their families.

The hospital is staffed with nurses and doctors, as well as orderlies, X-ray technicians, and others. They are all there to care for everyone from newborns to the frail and elderly.

At the city water treatment plant and waste water plant, technicians make sure things are flowing. And if there were a water main break, even on Christmas Day, there would be crew out to fix it. I know because they fixed hydrant broken off by a car in no time flat down the street from my house just the other day.

Even on Christmas Day, you can get a taxi, hop on an airplane, or take a Greyhound bus out of town. There are tow trucks available to rescue your car, and if you’re in need of a rental car, you can probably get one at the airport.

All over town, hotels and motels are open to take care of those travelling through, and up at Sun Peaks, the chairlifts are running.

While many businesses are closes, and many people have time off, thank you to those who stay open.

Thanks to all who work on Christmas Day so that the rest of us can enjoy the day in peace.

— Nancy Bepple is a recovering politician and local news junkie. She expects she will never recover from her love of the banjo.

News from © iNFOnews, 2015