BLOOMINGTON — ‘Twas a holiday’s eve, and all through the city, most business has ceased, save those who are needed. Police, public works, essential health workers, keep the Twin Cities turning with hearts, hands and fervor. 

While most people are busy dreaming their sugarplum dreams, some people are still absolutely necessary to make sure citizens are safe, healthy and ready to meet the holiday festivities. And, at least in Bloomington-Normal, those people actually like it. 

"I love my job," said Honor Coleman, support staff for Bloomington Public Works. He drives trucks for the city, whether that be garbage, construction or, this time of year, plow.

"People look at me funny all the time. When I was a kid, I used to chase the garbage truck all the time," he said. 

Coleman comes from a family of city workers, his father being a firefighter, he said. 

"My biggest thing is, I’m here to do a job," he said. "I enjoy my job. I come to work every day, and I’m grateful for all that I have. I owe it all to the city, so I try to do my best work that I can and make the citizens happy."

Nurses and health care workers from both Bloomington-Normal hospitals agree with Coleman. 

"We show up for the holidays, mostly for our patients," said Michelle Bice, a night charge nurse for the emergency department at Carle BroMenn Medical Center in Normal. "They’re the driving force behind what we do and why we do it. So if we can bring them some holiday joy, that’s worth it for us."

Joy is especially significant for new and expecting parents in the birthing center at OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center.

Charge nurse Shirin Shoushtari said they try to make each holiday special, and at Christmas, the staff makes ornaments for their patients.

"So every baby delivered, they get the ornament and the blue hat and they get the footprint," she said. 

For other holidays, like Easter and Thanksgiving, they make little hats for the newborns, and, for the first baby born in the year, they have a fresh outfit and gift basket for the family, Shoushtari said. 

"Each time for the big holiday, we do something for the parents," she said. 

Still, not every floor has such joyous occasions. That doesn’t mean they’re any less necessary.

"My patients ask all the time, ‘Do you like what you do?’ I tell them, I say, ‘I love what I do’," said Jasmyne Lawrence, a nightshift registered nurse at OSF St. Joseph.

"I love working with my patients, they motivate me," she said. "And also, because I’m from here — I was actually born in this hospital."

Lawrence, 24, a lifelong Bloomington resident, has been at OSF St. Joseph for about a year. She said she went to school with a lot of her patients’ kids. 

"I know some of them personally. So (I’m) just giving back to my community," she said. 

Other departments are on call, like the blood laboratory and MRI imaging. 

"My family knows, and we have it planned to be pretty simple, so I can just dart out if I have to," said Mary Jo Turner, an MRI technologist at OSF.

If Turner gets the call on a holiday, she has an hour to be at the hospital for imaging patients in critical need of surgery, whether that be for a tumor or something like a severed spine. 

"I have to make sure that the patient is safe to go into the scanner; we have to make sure they don’t have any surgical implants — all that needs to be done before I even leave home," Turner said. 

Jesus Santoy, lead clinical laboratory scientist for the blood bank at OSF St. Joseph, has to coordinate blood technicians for patients who might need an imminent transfusion, he said. 

"If the specimen were to come to my department, that would mean that the patient would possibly need some type of blood product — whether it be platelets, cryo (part of the plasma), red blood cells — whether it’s for surgery, … trauma or just an anemic patient," Santoy said. 

None of those conditions takes a holiday off. 

And neither does the sheriff’s office. 

"Usually, it’s fairly quiet, but there’s a high chance of a domestic situation coming up on holidays," McLean County Sheriff Matt Lane said. 

Lane has been with the sheriff’s office for nearly three decades, and he’s seen a lot over the years. 

"A lot of drinking goes on at Christmas parties and things like that, Christmas gatherings. So there are calls to respond to," he said.

That drinking can lead to some bad decisions, like getting behind the wheel of a car. 

"No deputy that I know of wants to go out and write a DUI or arrest people for a DUI on a holiday," he said. "But the fact of the matter is they can’t let a dangerous person go down the road, either, just because it’s a holiday."

The other big worry for travelers is, again, the weather. 

"Coordination on the storms actually starts days in advance. So you’ve got to watch the weather, you’re always watching the weather this time of year," said Shawn Moore, superintendent of streets and sewers for Bloomington. 

This helps workers prepare for upcoming issues and adjust equipment as needed. 

"Because the construction that our streets and sewers guys do is impacted by the weather. The refuse crews, their trucks, their loaders, that are out there every day for your bulk and brush, are also used on snow," Moore said. 

If the forecast calls for snow and a non-snow job is planned, Moore said they’ll have to set the non-snow job aside and instead fit the trucks out for snow removal.

Be that as it may, Coleman looks forward to plowing, he said, oftentimes installing his plow blade at least a day in advance. 

Rest and preparation are key before a snow storm, Coleman said.

"When you get here, you’re either eating lunch that you packed, or you get those places that are open … There’s been times where I’ve had to eat a cup of chili at a Pilot truck stop on Christmas Day with the other guys scrambling around looking for a place to take break," he said. 

A holiday shift can be exciting, especially if you love what you do. 

"I love to drive," said Anwar Gaston, who started as a refuse truck driver for Bloomington this year. He worked his first holiday, Thanksgiving, this year.

"It’s pretty fast paced. Start at 6 in the morning. We get out there and get to rolling," he said. "Have your cans out properly, have them on time, we’ll have them picked up for you."

That fast pace, though, can lead to some hiccups. 

"I was going so fast, I picked up a can and dropped it inside the hopper," he said. "I had to stop it and get out and pull it out.

"But it was all good," he chuckled. "Everybody got home safe and sound. And it was cool, we knocked it out."

That enthusiasm, that dedication, is all voluntary, Moore said. 

"Any holiday, if you see a plow truck driver out on the street or a garbage or recycle driver out on the street, it was voluntary for them. They chose to do that for you," Moore said. 

But this special group of people still try to make the day as jolly as possible for themselves and their colleagues. 

"Many of us enjoy working the holidays. We love to spend time with our co-workers who have become a special family for us throughout the years," said Bice, the emergency room charge nurse from Carle BroMenn.

"We’ve made many special memories, bonding, working the holidays. And it brings a little extra sparkle," she said.

Both hospitals, and the sheriff, said that involves things like potlucks, Secret Santa gift exchanges and oh so many sweet treats. 

However, Lane has a specialty. 

"I’ve been requested to make a breakfast fatty again," he said.

A "breakfast fatty" is something this reporter can only describe as an unholy amalgamation of everything associated with American breakfast.

"It’s a bacon weave, with sausage on it, and then cream cheese, cooked hash browns, cooked bacon, ham, scrambled eggs and more cheese. And you roll it into a loaf, and you put it on a smoker for several hours, and then you baste it with maple syrup," Lane explained, laughing at his concoction. 

He makes at least five of these a year. 

"It is the most unhealthy, but delicious, thing you have ever tasted in your entire life," he said. 

Artery-clogging delicacies aside, these essential workers agreed the service they provide is a gift of love. 

Mary Allen Bueno-Driz, a nurse in the cardiovascular unit at Carle BroMenn, explained her motivation simply. 

While the vast majority of people celebrating Christmas gather to revel and exchange gifts, Driz said the true meaning of Christmas and her Christian faith inspire her to care for her patients.

"There’s no greater present than to do what (God) told us to do, which is to love each other and to care for each other, most especially those who are … in my case, in my profession, the sick people," she said.