Getting Ready for the Holidays

Noah watches a movie in front of Grandma Honey's Christmas tree.

For years I was a wait until the calendar at least hit December before starting decorating, shopping or even thinking about Christmas. Now, we go all in right after Thanksgiving.

 

Amy has helped me a lot on that, saying if you’re going to go to all that work, at least enjoy it for a month or so. And really when I say go to all the work, I mean, she goes to all that work.

Now she decorates shortly after the turkey is almost done digesting.

Our main tree is mostly done as we’ll see how much Levi will let us finish decorating. I still need to brave the cold the assemble the lights on the house, but now the holiday music is playing on Pandora and Lite 104.1, so we’re in business.

When did you start assembling the tree? Heading to the tree farm today?

I won’t even mention how many of you spent Black Friday gathering at stores in the dark. But for the record, my good friend Michael G said it best,

He and his family were doing this in at least 1995 when we first roomed together at Wartburg. He would tell me about going to the store, getting free cracker jacks and other fun stuff while invading Rochester.

Oh the fun you learn when you start meeting new people and learning their traditions.

What are yours? What has changed since you left home? What has stayed the same?

Working Christmas Day

KIMT-TV studios, Mason City, IA

Welcome to Christmas Day. Merry Christmas. Now get to work.

 

Plenty of fields of work will require some work on the holiday.

Those fields may be snowplow drivers, police, fire, dispatch, Quick Trip clerks, pastor’s, medical staff and reporters.

Getting into media, you know that’s part of the deal.

I’ve talked about working Thanksgiving before.

Yesterday, it was about working Christmas Eve. That’s when the focus hits the night and the activities that go with it.

But there’s a whole new set of stories involving working Christmas Day. For many, the day begins early in the morning when you open presents then break them by 630a.

If you’re doing the morning news, you’ve really started late Christmas Eve and hope that 5 people are watching or listening. This year, those newscasts will have significantly more people watching with the midwest weather system taking hold.

When I started at KIMT in the late 90s, the Christmas Day newscasts were usually cancelled in the morning and sometimes you only had the 10p that night. That was nice to allow as many people the opportunity to be with family. I’ve even heard of stations canceling all newscasts for that day.

Many people are in good moods who are working the holiday. As Megan Salois says, people are more relaxed and just having fun working with their second family.

But, not everyone is so full of Christmas cheer.

KWAY AM/FM Waverly, IA

One of my favorite holiday working stories again comes from KWAY in Waverly.

 

Bob Foster told me this story during my time working with him at KWAY and doing Wartburg football.

He said a guy was working Christmas Eve at the station and was doing the sign off that night. The employee may not have wanted to work that night. The employee signed off for the night and just left the doors open. Not just unlocked, but wide open to let the good Iowa air into the building. And snow. And cold. And whatever creatures decided to come in the door.

I think it was more than Butters The Cat could defend.

Consider that a Christmas present to management.

I’ve left the door wide open for some of your best stories.

Here’s a look at those.

Merry Christmas! Enjoy the day. And look for stories tonight about dinner with fire fighters, Christmas babies born and stores that were actually open today.

Working Christmas Eve

Noah, Christmas, 2008

There are many people working this holiday. Now that the weather is changing every hour, so too will the stories. The post about working Thanksgiving seemed to inspire me a bit.

I’m going to break this up into two posts. One on working Christmas Eve, the other about working Christmas Day.

There is a difference for some, but not others.

Remember the roads you took today to get to Grandma’s house or your Aunt Eve’s? Well, a snow plow driver was out there to clear the way for you. Granted, he or she probably earned double or triple time to do it, but money doesn’t matter when you want to be home with your family.

Don’t forget the dispatch of those plows, or dispatch for police, fire and EMS. They are always working in that industry. Always ready to answer a call to save someone’s Christmas as Lauren Squires wrote.

Even the malls and stores are open on Christmas Eve. That I can understand. The times earlier in the day need to stay normal. Not everyone is off work.

But it is the media members who are also there, giving you background sound and pictures for your holiday gathering.

Media members know that working holidays is part of the deal. I knew it, but didn’t really know it until it was time to work those days.

I was working as a board operator at KWAY-AM/FM in Waverly, IA during my sophomore year at Wartburg College. I had to close up shop and sign off at midnight on Christmas Eve. This meant I missed chili at mom’s, church with the family and presents opening had to be delayed until 1245 AM when I finally walked in the door. Thankfully, mom was not working that night, she was a night nurse at MHI and we moved up presents on nights she was working.

I didn’t mind working Christmas Eve during the day. You would cover last-minute shopping, travel, maybe a thief stealing Christmas or a fire burning the presents. You’d shoot a stand up and get out of there. Unless you worked nightside, then you were there until the news was done and hoped nothing happened at the end of the shift.

My last Christmas in Davenport at KWQC was 2005. Christmas Eve was a Saturday night. When you’re the weekend anchor, you don’t usually get the night off unless you ask. I worked that night. Amy was pregnant with Noah, her parents came over and we were going to celebrate the next day.

I was doing my normal close down of the operation on Saturday night, making sure Sunday was somewhat planned when the scanners just lit up like a Christmas tree. A fight broke out at a nightclub on the north side of town. The photographer on that night was long gone and I was closer than calling him back. There was no midnight escape planned at home, so I just loaded up a camera and headed out to the scene. I think every squad car in Davenport, Scott County and the State Patrol was there. It turned out to be minor stabbing, but who is out at a bar on Christmas Eve at 11p? Apparently people not feeling the Christmas cheer.

I figured it was payback for all of those years of departing a little bit before my shift was over.

Christmas Eve news is pretty standard. Norad images of Santa, how the last minute shopping is going, national packages on Christmas in Bethlehem and lots of looks at the weather. In 2009, the weather will be the big story.

Not many people actually watch the late news on Christmas Eve, but like anything, you have to do your job and be respectful to those actually watching. Its your job.

Sometimes the news can be more relaxed in the setting of no one’s watching, so let’s have some fun.

A nice tradition on KWQC was placing a camera on the Paula Sands Live fireplace and playing holiday music over the top of it. I believe that was the yule log idea started in New York well before any of us made decisions.

I did leave out one story about KWAY. I’ll get to that tomorrow.

Looking for working holiday stories

Have you worked a Christmas Eve night?
How about Christmas morning or Christmas Day?

I’d like to hear your best story you told on that day. Did you get some breaking news that made the day go by fast or did the breaking news strike when you were about to hop into the car and go to Grandma’s house?

What was that like working your first Christmas?

I’d like to post some of your responses to a post I’m working on for this week.