This thread bought up a locked memory about my mum last night and I had a bit of a snotty blub in bed. (mum died over 20 years ago when I was 27 so I miss her so bloody much this time of year)
Sorry for the long post in advance.....
My lovely mum was a part time cleaner (then food delivery lady) in the local hospital so had to go in over Christmas/ New Year depending on her shift.
Then from when I was about 12 to my late twenties Mum worked in an Council run old peoples home (worked her way up from a cleaner to "second cook in command") and often worked over Xmas and New Year, depending on when her shift fell. Worked there until she died.
Mum never moaned (and they were low paid work), she bloody LOVED it! Because my mum was grateful for the job and loved looking after people.
We were a big family and Christmas morning after present opening she would bung the huge mutant turkey in the oven before she left for work on chrimbo morning and we kids would watch the timer like a hawk.
I have a memory that popped up when mum worked in the hospital of me and my little brother when we were very young sitting on chairs clutching a huge alarm clock (set to go off when turkey was cooked) watching the turkey so it wouldn't burn, swinging our legs to see how far we could swing them up (I don't think we understood at that age that our knees would get in the way)
When she worked in the Old Peoples Home, the kitchen staff (including my mum) would spend ages prepping and cooking lovely easy to eat Christmas meals and puddings for the people they cared for from scratch (and also meals for visiting family members), everyone would dress up and for a few years my Dad dressed up as Santa and I was a chrimbo fairy (before I turned into Kevin the teenager) and we went around delivering presents.
Some of the staff that lived nearby would even pop in and stay a while with the residents for when they had a sing song led by volunteers that used to go round to all the old peoples homes to sing carols.
New Years eve was another sing along and games and buffet nibbles all day (again they would feed visiting family members), Easter bunny would hop round in Easter, 11 November was filled with homemade poppies and lots of hugs were given and people would come in and just sit with people and listen to their war stories.
The reason I'm telling this is because it never occurred to me that someone working in possibly a similar field as my mum could be SO BITTER and RESENTFUL towards other people having time off over Xmas and New Year or any other holiday season.
Because I saw, for a HUGE chunk of my life, people on rubbish wages bringing joy to other people over Christmas and other Public holidays (some with no family) and never moaning because "That bitch Sharon just told me she is not back until the New Year and she's so excited to have the time off".
I never really minded working up to Xmas eve or in between until New Year after mum died because most of my colleagues and friends had young families and I knew when growing up how lovely my Christmas days were when mum was alive.
But by the gods I'm SO HAPPY I'M TAKING MY ANNUAL LEAVE AND NO WORK FOR ME UNTIL 2020! I'm a knackered old fart.
If I could find a hill where I live I'd climb it and spin around like Maria singing loudly "The hills are alive, with someone not back at work it 2020!" (but it's bloody wet, windy and muddy out there!)
Life isn't a fucking "oh look at me, being a martyr for working my shift on Christmas day/ Public holiday, you should all feel bloody guilty I'm working and you should all have a shit time off" competition.
I don't do this to people taking their allocated leave during summer or school holidays. Most people don't!
Life is what you make it and life is too bloody short to be grumpy and Grinch like towards other people, most you don't even know.
So I'm sending Christmas joy to everyone, working or not. May your day be merry and bright!!!