For those who have an elf-like obsession with Christmas, it can be heartbreaking to find out you have to work through the festive season.
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It's meant to be a decadent day of celebration, so when talk of the Christmas weekend begins, it's hard not to react like this:
The only thing that takes the edge off is the knowledge you are not alone.
Canberra Emergency Department nurses are doing their bit to inject a bit of seasonal cheer into their otherwise sterile workplace by distributing Christmas-themed scrubs.
A plan was hatched between nursing staff to create a new festive tradition by making custom Christmas scrubs from scratch to wear with large quantities of tinsel.
Emergency department nurse Tennille Rayner said she and other nurses picked out their favourite fabrics - fun prints with snowmen, reindeer and more - to give to a colleague, Merryn Steer, who got to work sewing them.
"We started talking about it toward the end of November," Ms Rayner said. "She had some sample sizes in the tea room. They are very similar to our other scrub tops, just prettier."
Staff already enjoy hampers at work on Christmas Day and distribute gifts bought by the hospital foundation to patients.
But Ms Rayner said the personalised christmas-wear added to the atmosphere.
"We each got our own and there are 20 to 30 people wearing them," she said. "We try and make it as fun as possible. The day is pretty special. We are not with family and friends on the day so we try and celebrate at the hospital and lift everyone's spirits."
The 24-hour nature of police and emergency service responsibilities don't stop for Santa either.
ACT Policing has reported the Christmas spirit has well and truly infiltrated their stations.
Along with well-wishing from some of the ACT's "sworn elves", a new video includes a few cracker jokes - Christmas cracker jokes that is.
