Although Christmas is the last day in America when most every store is closed, some folks work the holiday.
Most don't seem to mind.
"I don't have to work Christmas Day," said Kelley Davidson, manager of the Goldener Hirsch Inn in Park City. "I get to work. It's a great and wonderful holiday. ... It is such a special and joyous day. I have never met anyone who is upset or angry, and I expect that to continue."
He remembers last year's holiday as one of the best. Park City received 27 inches of snow, and most of the guests at the 20-room inn elected to stay inside. Fires were lit in all of the rooms. People read books, drank hot chocolate and felt comfortable and happy.
When guests come to spend Christmas with young children, Davidson dons a Santa Claus suit and personally delivers gifts to each child. Last year, a 6-year-old girl went downstairs to the restaurant after a personal visit from Santa to tell everyone who would listen about the gift she received.
"She wanted to make sure everyone believed in Santa Claus," recalled the innkeeper. "She saw him, he hugged her and called her by name. It made my heart pound."
Nadia Brewer, a server at the Little America coffee shop in Salt Lake City, also loves working holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and Mother's Day, which she said rank among the busiest of the year.
Last year, for example, a family of eight came for dinner and brought party hats and gifts. Brewer was treated like a member and received a small wrapped gift and a $100 cash tip.
"I live on my own, so it's exciting," she said. "People are generous and usually tip more than 18 percent. A lot of people want to work on holidays because of the business we get."
For a Catholic priest like St. Ann's pastor Colin Bircumshaw, working the holiday is considered a great privilege.
"I wouldn't know what to do otherwise," he said. "It's not a job, it's a vocation."
After saying Mass, the monsignor seeks out the homebound and sick on Christmas. Some years, he has visited jails and hospitals.
George Jackson will spend much of Christmas working behind the counter at the Eagles Landing gas station and convenience store just off Interstate 15 in Scipio. Having also worked at a fast-food restaurant on the holiday, he knows what to expect.
"Some years it's busy, some years it's not," he said. "Some people are nicer and some are a lot more ornery because they have to travel on Christmas."
Lindsey Little, an Air Med flight nurse at the University of Utah hospital, is single and often works the Christmas shift.
"It's pretty relaxed and we have a good time," she said. "We're pretty much family. We bring food, snack and watch movies if we don't have flights. It's kind of fun."
But it can also be dramatic.
Little remembers one Christmas when she and a partner hopped on the helicopter to transport a woman who was in preterm labor with twins.
"She was really scared and sad," said the nurse. "But we got her to the university and had good outcomes."
Capt. Fitzgerald Petersen of the Salt Lake County Unified Fire Authority also recalled delivering a baby for a family on Christmas Day and bringing people back from harm's way. Of course, he has also seen people die and lose homes.
"My job is seeing people at their best and worst," he said. "Going to work, you know strange things will happen to people. The death of somebody or the loss of a home on Christmas is pretty devastating, and that happens."
KSL Channel 5 anchorman Keith McCord, who has worked many Christmases and is scheduled to be on the air tonight, remembered covering a Christmas Eve fire caused by a burning candle. A family lost its home.
"It was a huge story on Christmas Day," he recalled. "Those folks lost everything. But the Utah community rallied around them. It couldn't have happened on a worse night. We hate to see things like that. I would rather have no news and a bunch of feature stories than having to do something like that."
Count Brandon Hardison of the Humane Society of Utah as another person who asks to work the holiday.
"I love working Christmas," he said. "Ever since I started working here, I get to come in, give the animals treats like wet food and blankets and spoil them in the morning."
Paul Hedman, the lift operations manager at Deer Valley, has worked many Christmas Days. He was scheduled off today but swapped with an employee who wanted the day off.
"It was no big deal," he said. "It was an opportunity to build morale on the crew. Other people are a long ways from home. I want them to try and feel like they are family when they are far away. Honestly, Christmas is not one of our busiest days. ... It's a fun day, dealing with lift operators and our guests. We wish everyone Merry Christmas and happy holidays. It's easier to strike up a conversation."
Weather forecasters and airport workers also must work the holiday, something they knew when they took their jobs. For example, eight people will work sometime Christmas at the National Weather Service's Salt Lake City office.
Steve Rogowski came to the Salt Lake office from Washington, D.C., where he dealt with the occasional holiday snowstorm. He simply adjusts his holiday celebration, some years celebrating on Christmas Eve, in the morning before going to work or after the shift ends.
Dave Korzep, superintendent of airport operations at Salt Lake International, said that since the airport never closes and 8,000 people are scheduled to fly out Christmas morning, he will be on call.
"I love coming to the airport because there is always something going on, something fun happening," he said. "But we've had cases where I've come out on Christmas to a large snow event."
Police officers like Capt. Tom McLachlan of West Valley's police department and highway patrolman Jeff Daems view working Christmas as just part of the job. And each holiday is different, with some slow and others busy.
"Any time you have a holiday season and families are together, sometimes that generates more friction than the usual normal association," said McLachlan.
Daems, who works in Summit and Wasatch counties, said his kids are young enough that Christmas might be celebrated on a different day when he is off. He said the big problem on a holiday is impaired driving due to too much celebration at parties.
So, while most Utahns celebrate a holiday today, a few will be working, many serving others, and most savor the experience.
