Sunday is Christmas Day, a time when Christians across the world celebrate the birth of Christ and families and friends gather to celebrate the day with food and fellowship.

We sit around a beautifully decorated Christmas tree and open gifts. We sit at a table and enjoy turkey or ham with the trimmings, snug and comfortable in our homes with those we care most about.

But in our community and out are people who won’t be able to spend the day with their families or in some cases enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner.

And maybe, if they’re lucky, they’ll get a chance to spend a snippet of time with loved ones.

While most of us are sitting down to that Christmas dinner or gathering around the tree to open gifts, our community’s first responders — police officers, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and emergency medical workers will be on station protecting us and waiting to offer aid in the case of an emergency.

There are city and county public works and utilities employees who are on call and may have to leave their families for an indefinite period to go to work if a water or gas line breaks, a sink hole should open in a street, or a tree falls blocking a street or road.

And there are soldiers and sailors on deployment at sea or on foreign lands in bases dotting the globe keeping a constant vigil to protect the freedoms we enjoy daily and ensure we enjoy our holiday without the threat of aggression or attack from a foreign power or organization.

Unless there is some special holiday to honor these people, we don’t give the time of day. We don’t think about the effort and sacrifice they make when they serve us, the public. And it’s at holidays like Christmas that their sacrifice is the greatest, when they give up their time to ensure we can have a happy holiday.

So while you’re getting the final ingredients for Christmas dinner or that last present, remember those who are giving up their personal time to ensure we have a safe holiday.

And if you see a man or woman in uniform, tell them thanks, give them a wave and a smile, or even a thumbs up. They’ll appreciate it.