What is it like to work on Christmas Day? Hear from three people clocking in on December 25

Not everyone will get to slump on the couch on Christmas Day. Jonathan deBurca Butler talks to some of those who keep the country ticking over about the challenges and sense of fulfillment they get from working through the big day

Working at Christmas: While most of us will welcome December 25's pleasant inertia, there will be thousands of workers right around the country keeping the place ticking over.

The great wind down to the big day has begun. 

Automatic email replies have started to kick in and hard deadlines are being replaced by the tacit acceptance that there is a new year only around the corner. 

For the next few days, Christmas will sweep most of us along in a deluge of parties, parcels and pints and dump us like puppies onto Christmas Day couches where we can sit down and relax after a slap-up meal for the ages.

While most of us will welcome December 25th’s pleasant inertia, there will be thousands of workers right around the country keeping the place ticking over.

Venerable Andrew Orr with his wife the Very Reverend Susan Green

The spirit of the season

For the Venerable Andrew Orr, Christmas morning will be hectic but it’s a hectic he very much enjoys.

“I have two services, a ten o’clock in Castlemartyr and then half past eleven in Youghal," says the 57-year-old. "Lots of children, lots of families and it’s always great fun and a great atmosphere. There are small congregations in the parish. In total we would have about one hundred and fifty families, so for each service you’d be expecting maybe sixty to eighty, which is big for The Church of Ireland.” Andrew, who originally hails from Belfast, is almost thirty years in the business of spreading the good word. Along with his wife, the Very Reverend Susan Green, he has been giving that message to Cork’s Church of Ireland members since 2018. The couple met at theological college where Susan was one of the first women to arrive in the ministry. Their relationship has been rooted in service to God and their community and this is a particularly important time of the year.

“For us, Christmas is at the very heart of the Christian message,” says Andrew. “God becoming a baby. It’s just such good news and I know all the wonderful things around it and we enjoy the festivities but right at the heart of Christ’s birth, is that message of peace and good news, we believe, for the whole world.” Of course, there will be many children in the congregation who will have plenty of good news of their own and Andrew says he always looks forward to hearing their “exciting stories” particularly about any comings and goings in the parish the night before. By lunchtime, things will have calmed down.

“Once my second service is over, I go back home back to where my wife is taking her services in Cloyne and Midleton,” says Andrew. “The afternoon is for family then. We have three adult children who will all be at home with us. Our daughter’s partner and our grandson will be there as well, so it will be a busy household this year. Luckily, our children are at that stage to have a good chunk of the dinner done and ready to go. The afternoon is very relaxing.” Perhaps for fear of the ghost of Martin Luther knocking on his door, Andrew wouldn’t be drawn on whether the family would watch Father Ted or The Vicar of Dibley post their turkey, ham and, that old Cork staple, spiced beef. He is sure that at some stage, some board games will be dusted off. Either way, it is a day to be enjoyed.

“It’s such a part of what we’ve been for thirty years and there's such a buzz from it,” he says. “It’s such a high point for the year so I love working on Christmas Day.” 

Kealon Coward will be working Christmas Day at the Applegreen Station in Lemybrien, Waterford.

Keeping us trucking along

Just as Andrew finishes buying Shrewsbury Road on his Monopoly board, Kealon Coward will be checking over his roster at the Applegreen Station in Lemybrien, Waterford, to see who is coming in to take his place this year.

The 26-year-old has worked with the company for over six years, having begun his career as a store assistant when studying Law at the former Waterford Institute of Technology. He has worked his way up the ranks and now heads a team of forty-one key members at the station.

“I’ve done about five Christmas Days at this stage,” says the Dungarvan man, “and I don’t really mind them at all, to be honest. I always volunteer to do it. I don’t have kids and I think the people that have kids deserve the time off. It does take time away from my own family but we always make up for it on the other side.” 

Kealon says that a key focus of Applegreen’s ethos is to serve the community. It is a community that has changed radically since he was a little boy.

“Not everyone celebrates Christmas the way many people who grew up here do,” he says. “Some people don’t celebrate it at all. Not everyone has someone to call on on Christmas Day either so at least they can pop down to the shop, see somebody and have a coffee. So it’s good that they have somewhere that’s open.”

“It’s surprisingly busy. The first year I did it I was surprised. There are a lot of people travelling; your truck drivers bringing food around still have to do their thing, the emergency services need to refuel and the Gardaí are on duty too of course and they’ll drop in for a coffee and a chat just to see if everything is OK.” Then there are the real emergencies.

“The people who really need us are the kids who have the new toys but can’t play with them because there are no batteries,” says Kealon, “or somebody has forgotten to get the sliced pan and milk the day before. So when people come in they really do appreciate it. There's a good atmosphere around.” 

Geraldine McNamara Health Assistant, will be working Christmas day.

Bring the Christmas magic door to door

For Geraldine McNamara, Christmas Day will be somewhat more subdued. The 66-year-old is a Community Healthcare Assistant based in Tipperary Town.

“I go from house to house looking after people’s personal care,” she explains. “It’s mainly older people in their own homes. I should have retired last year but I don’t know what else I’d do if I retired and I love meeting people. For Christmas Day they do ask families to step in to allow staff to have time with their own family but that's not always possible.” 

In between calls, Geraldine will duck back to the house to prepare the Christmas meal. Her sons, twin boys she adopted from Romania, are now grown men and can help out but in the early days of their lives, Christmas Day was something of a juggling act.

“When my kids were growing up, you were trying to manage the day,” she says. “You might put on a turkey early in the morning, go out and see a patient, then come back check the turkey, peel some spuds or get the vegetables on and go out again for a lunchtime call. Then you’re back, you have your dinner and then you’re watching the clock to go out again to do an evening call. So you had very little time with your family.” 

Her tone is matter-of-fact. She has been in the job since 1984 and it gives her a unique perspective on her particular Christmas Day circumstances.

“There are some people who have nobody and you feel terrible sympathy for them,” she says. “You’re going to houses and you’re the only person they see on Christmas Day. Inevitably, you end up giving them a bit of extra time, trying to make it a bit Christmassy for them, putting on Christmas jumpers and hats and giving them a bit of the spirit of Christmas.” 

Geraldine’s final call will probably end as the first of the late-night Christmas movies begins and the last of the Cadbury’s Roses are unwrapped. With any luck, both she and the thousands of others who keep the country ticking over on Christmas Day will get back home in time to indulge in just a little of the Christmas spirit for themselves and maybe get their hands on the final Golden Barrel.