As everyone sits around the Christmas table for lunch, some Canberrans will be waving goodbye to family members and taking up their work shift to make sure the capital is still running.
Oncology nurse Ernest Gutu is rostered to work on Christmas, he's based at Canberra Hospital and specialises in supporting those with cancer.
"I always find it's very important to give them cheer," Mr Gutu said.
"I know that Christmas ... for most people it's their time for family, but for these people, they don't have that opportunity to be out with their families, so giving them that care, seeing them smiling on such an important day, it makes me feel happy," he said.
While patients are the priority for Mr Gutu, interacting with the families are almost just as important to ensure everyone feels more relaxed during a stressful time.
"It's an ongoing care of providing emotional support to the family, to the patient ... it's always part of any registered nurse to care for the individual in front of you, then to care for the people around that individual," he said.
Mr Gutu said for his own family, Christmas starts when he arrives home after his shift.
"We have our Christmas at 2pm but my little daughter is not pleased with that, she prefers me to be home at 6am so that she can wake up early and open presents," he said.
While the sacrifice for Mr Gutu can be challenging, he said there is nowhere else he would rather be than with patients.
"If you do it with all your heart, you get to see patients beating their odds, beating cancer, beating disease, so there's no reward better than that in my career," he said.
In the police department, constables Matthew Elder, Michael Clarke, Nathan Kennedy, Emily Nuttall and Lachlan Tisdell will be rostered on for their first Christmas this year.
For the officers, it is just another day on the job, but they are quietly hoping that holiday festivities will keep the public busy, and their radios quiet.
"I started noticing that members of the public are a bit more jolly and a bit more thankful for us even in the last week or two," Constable Kennedy said.
"So we'll still be responding to the radio and getting whatever jobs we get, but hopefully they're good experiences."
It can be a tough shift at times though, First Constable Patricia Skrzypczymski said.
The only one among the group who has worked past Christmases, the first constable said the day can also bring instances of alcohol-fuelled violence and family violence: "A lot of emotions tend to come out at Christmas."
But, hoping for an uneventful shift, the group will each bring in a plate of food and try to make time to celebrate together over dinner.
For many of the team, with family scattered around the country, this will be their Christmas celebration.
"People could take leave, but no one has," constable Elder remarked.
"I'd say that speaks volumes about us, that someone's going to have to work Christmas, so we might as well all work it [together]."
Airport security workers will also be working on Christmas to make sure people get home, as shift supervisor Jintana Muen-Hong described it as important work.
"I usually work on Christmas Day because I'm Thai and we don't really celebrate Christmas, so to be able to support the team and the community ... it's rewarding for me," she said.
Client services manager Troy Boorn-Scott shared the sentiment, describing it as "really great value" for himself.
"We bring in little gifts from each other as part of that support on the day ... we're also spending time here giving back to the community but we're also celebrating Christmas with one another as well," he said.
Paramedics Sam Hocking and Madi Nolan from Emergency Services ACT described working on Christmas Day as a "sacrifice" but well worth taking up the shift to ensure community safety.
"I guess the thing about this particular line of work and any kind of shift work is that there are a lot of sacrifices ... but I think a big reason a lot of us are paramedics is because we want to serve the community and we want to help people," Ms Nolan said.
Mr Hocking shared this view however said the Christmas culture among paramedics was strong.
"I know last week we were blasting the Christmas carols [in the van] ... we try and get into the Christmas spirit, maybe put some tinsel on cars," he said.
"If we have any paediatric patients, it's obviously a pretty scary time for them already, so if they go into a big van that looks like a Christmas tree it kind of lessons the stress for everyone."
Firefighters Dave Bremers and Sean Toohey are another set of first responders due to take up the Christmas shift which was described as "part of the responsibility".
"It'd be nice to be home with the family, but in other ways, we really do have a family here at the workplace," Mr Bremers said.
While it depends on what's happening in the ACT, often the crew will organise a lunch based at the station for families to meet.
"Usually families have got something else that they're doing during the day, but often we can make it happen that they can turn up to the station for lunch," Mr Bremers said.
"Of course we're always still operationally available as you would expect from the fire and rescue service."
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
