Do you work on Christmas Day ?

Back in July, a guest commented he had just found out he had to work on Christmas Day and I groaned along with him groaning until, I woke up and said -

'Why am I groaning about working on Christmas, I have worked every single Christmas for the last 24 years at Hammy Hall, and worked from 7am - right through until around 1am - no break - no rest, no afternoon nap - just work right through.'

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Here is an average Christmas Day for us working at Hamilton Hall.

Up at 7.30am. Dressed in my Santa gear of tight red leggings, camp Santa top and long pinnie... So nothing too camp then...

While the kettle is on, I am busy preparing a Full English to be served SELF SERVICE at 10am. Bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomato, mushrooms, baked beans, French toast, Scrambled eggs, plenty of toast and fruit juices, fresh fruit, over 15 different cereals, moist prunes and apricots, nuts and dozens of different teas to choose from as well as ground coffee.

All the hot plates for Woody to get ready, plates and cutlery, tea and ground coffee to prepare, milk jugs, all the marmalades, jams and Marmite out - bread ready for toast while I am busy with the bacon and sausages under the gill - as well as getting the tomatoes and baked beans done, and the French Toast, and eventually at 10am we all sit together like one big HAPPY FAMILY - and have Christmas Breakfast all together. With Bucks Fizz on offer, this is a good start to the day and where most people go back to bed for another hour afterwards - we have just started work.

Woody and I have our separate jobs to do and many we come together to get something done quicker. Clearing away and washing up takes over an hour.

While I start peeling veg, Woody gets the Dining Room tidied up and table laid ready for dinner and believe me, it can take over an hour just to lay the table and get it just right - and it can take 2 or 3 hours just doing veg prep, make the stuffing, stuff the apples, chop and peel, par cook - blanche - and then think about timings for the turkey and got to get the boiled ham on simmer before - got to time everything just right.

Mince pies to make.

I make my own pastry but top them with frozen puff pastry and even make my own mincemeat and not shop bought and before you know it, it is time to offer hot mince pies and Christmas cake with tea at 3pm to watch the King.

With the ham on simmer and the turkey in the oven, we have a half hour break, for the ' in house team,' - to go upstairs to my studio and open and share our presents bought for one another and maybe a quick puff, and then, back to work.

Dinner is at 5pm - the logic is that after dinner many guests want another nap and it is not too late waking maybe at 8pm whereas a later dinner and a later nap makes for a much shorter evening.

Meanwhile after dinner the dining table is to be taken down, and this is real heavy work,- all the cloths and table decorations stored somewhere safe and numerous small round tables with special cloths and decorations are put up to make for a cabaret room, and with scores of candles and karaoke machine got ready, that's another hour at minimum getting it all set up and ready and then the music to sort and check the karaoke is working etc. and then maybe, we get another45 minute break for a quick puff before getting ourselves ready and then get the snacks out, drinks ready, candles lit, music on and by now, it is PARTY TIME...

As the host, it is down to me to keep the party going and we do rely on the guests input to sing a song, tell a gag or do something to join in so it does not become the John and Woody Show, as we can sing and will do, and will try and keep things going, and it is up to guests to get in the party mood and join in the fun and games.

We serve a buffet around 10pm and the evenings goes right through until at least midnight - and then guess what we have to do ???

Not just wash and tidy up from the buffet, but take down all the cabaret tables and put the dining table back up and lay ready for breakfast and this is - by now - at least 1am.... and being as we have been up all day, takes ages as we slow down....

Remember we have been at it since 7.30am.

We stagger upstairs eventually and share a quick puff and an autopsy on the day and festivities so far, we may chat about the guests and who is and who isn't fun and who is hard work, and get to bed around 2am ready to start again - more or less exactly the same day all over again on Boxing Day, it's just we have an easier breakfast with Corned Beef Hash and scrambled eggs, so a lot less work, and dinner is a huge venison casserole cooked the day before ( yes - while doing all the Christmas day foods I am also preparing for the next day as well ) and there is a lot less prep for Boxing Day dinner, but it still takes some hours to do and with just a domestic kitchen and not a commercial one, I am juggling pots and pans on the stove for space...

Most hotels will have catering staff, entertainment staff, bedroom staff and even kitchen porters.

At Hamilton Hall it is ALL done by the two of us and as a NOT FOR PROFIT VENUE and where we offer tons of FREE HOLIDAYS TO THE NEEDY and put enormous amounts back into a community desperately in need of some soul, we work for basically no wages and all to bring our guests a Festive Season to remember.

This continues right through until after Christmas - the 27th December, when there is an ALL CHANGE and where guests leave and all rooms to be hoovered, beds changed and washed and sorted ready for the Naked New Year crowd due on December 30th - and the fun starts all over again and this year, on December 27th, I have a hospital appointment and cannot get out of it so - must some how cram that into an already busy and rushed day.

So we work long hours 7 days a week - especially over the Festive Season when we really do not stop and while not getting any younger - and while is exhausts - we try and find ways of making it easier for ourselves in small ways to help us get the occasional 20 minute ' power nap' in order to recharge and keep going.

Could you work as hard - for no wage - all over Christmas - at 70 years of age ?

Could you do an 18 hour day with almost no breaks and where you are on your feet all day ?

Here - everything - any problem, any leak, any one being taken ill, or an alarm accidentally going off, or someone announcing at the last minute as you are serving dinner that they are vegan and hadn't thought to tell anyone - and any of hundreds of things that can and do crop up that needs sorting without spoiling the customers stay will find its way into our work day on top of the list of things already planned.

With all of this and as hard as it may be, we absolutely love it.

So if you are at home with parents, friends or with company, be aware of the workload involved and offer a hand, even if it's just making the cook a cuppa, it then makes all the hard work worth it and they feel appreciated and not taken for granted.

Happy Christmas Everyone. With Love XXX

John Bellamy