On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when most folks are sitting down to enjoy dinner with family and friends, public safety officers, doctors and nurses and others in service industries still have to work. It’s not always easy – crime and accidents don’t take a break on holidays. The Sacramento Press asked some of them to share their holiday work experiences. These are their stories. FIRE DEPARTMENT: “(Christmas) is a pretty loaded day,” Doug Bruce, an engineer with Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, said Friday. “There is a lot of last-minute things going on, so there is a lot of traffic out. We keep busy.” Bruce said calls to the fire station can be strange no matter what the day,

There was a time when just hearing certain Christmas carols would cause tears to begin seeping from my eyes. And not in a good way. To this day, I have no idea why, but the disturbance seems to have receded somewhat. Perhaps I’ve grown past it, or, more likely, the fact that I stopped listening to Christmas carols of my own volition has created less opportunity. Holidays can be tricky. No one is more aware of that than someone like me who works with people in recovery from substance abuse and people who live with mental health issues. Holidays heighten financial issues; relationship issues; loss of loved ones; religious differences. Family issues. You could create an entire library o

Little kids all over look forward with excited anticipation to Santa coming into town. They know he has a list that shows who’s been “naughty” and who’s been “nice.” Saturday night several hundred “naughty” people attended Trash Film Orgy’s (TFO) showing of “Don’t Open Till Christmas,” a film directed by Edmund Purdom. The film was one of several films featured at the Crest Theater’s “Santa's Cool Holiday Film Festival.” Doors opened at 10 p.m. for an 18 and older crowd that had been waiting outside the Crest Theater. Audience members dressed in costume were given a discount on admission. Once inside the Crest Theatre, a Christmas tree was decorated and included gifts that were given

Whatever your particular creed or faith, most people regard this time of year as a season of peace — a time to reflect, count blessings, maybe offer a little prayer for better days ahead. We suffer the coarseness and indignities of a saturated consumer market to enjoy the time with family and friends, and work for better days in our communities. That is why it was so appalling that a recent trip to an area Sam’s Club for supplies for a holiday party became an occasion for outrage. Sam’s Club (a division of Walmart) often has vendors set up special displays of merchandise that might not be part of its regular lineup of products. Megawine Inc., a liquor distributor from Van Nuys, had an ent

As the song goes, Santa’s making his list, checking it twice and deciding who gets cool goodies and who gets lumps of coal. Between the budget, redistricting and facing dissatisfied citizens who took over a city park in protest, the City Council has been busy this year, so The Sacramento Press made its own “naughty or nice” list. If you were Santa, how would City Council fare? Here’s our list for 2011. Mayor Kevin Johnson: NAUGHTY Sure, he led the way to advancing green technology in the city and supported a citizens advisory committee’s effort to redistrict the city. But being absent for 10 City Council meetings in a single year? Tsk, tsk, Mr. Mayor. (And we’re not bitter about not b

For the holidays, Plates Cafe and Catering is serving Christmas cookies, baked and prepared by the women in St. John's Shelter Program for Women and Children. St. John's provides shelter, education and childcare to homeless women with children. As part of the shelter's six- to 12-month training program, Plates Cafe and Catering, located at 14 Business Parkway, serves as an on-the-job training site for the shelter, where the women perform restaurant positions such as cooks, waitresses and hostesses, Stuart Edgcombe, 46, Chef at Plates Cafe and Catering, said. "It's more than just cooking," Edgcombe said. "It's teaching them life lessons." Teresa Kamekona, 39, said her experience at Plat

Ben Scrooge is the Founder and CEO—Billionaire Boy Wonder—of Humbug , a video game company that his now deceased partner, Jake Marley, helped put on the map. But Ben is not a happy guy, a bit of a… Scrooge as an 18-year old video game magnate? If you’re having trouble imagining it, that’s okay; I’d much prefer you buy a ticket and see it played out on stage. It’s well worth the ticket price! I, too, was a skeptic. No more. Karen Pollard has conceptualized and carried out a clever modernization of the Christmas classic—a dash of Rent here, a dollop of High School Musical there--without straying so far from the original as to be disconcerting. The staging and choreography are fairly int

A windstorm that destroyed the Christmas tree in Old Sacramento didn’t get the last laugh, as the company that provided the tree worked over several days to replace it out of pocket. “There is really not a good explanation for what happened to the tree,” said Chris McSwain, district manager for the Old Sacramento Business Association. “The immediate cause is wind damage. I’d say two-thirds to three-fourths of the needles blew off.” Last weekend’s windstorm might have turned a once-full tree to a skeleton, but that’s when the tree provider, Carlton Christmas Trees from the Redding area, stepped up to replace it. “They’ve never seen anything like this happen in 40 or 50 years,” McSwain sa

Q: I am a struggling college student with more bills than income. Christmas is always a struggle for me because I don't have the funds I want to dedicate to present-buying. My family completely understands this, and we often choose names to limit the number of people you must buy a present for. However, my boyfriend’s family (we have been together several years) does not do that, and they are known for their extravagant gift-giving. The past few years that I have participated in their family Christmas, I typically end up over-extending myself on the gifts and putting more than I want to on my credit card. This year I don't want to do that, but it is embarrassing to show up with cheap gif

When Rosie Carollo was hospitalized at the Sutter Children’s Center, Sacramento due to a rare form of childhood epilepsy at just 6 months old, she took great delight in the toys, movies and activities in the hospital’s Child Life Program. After Rosie’s passing in 2004, just shy of her second birthday, her parents, Nicole and George Carollo, were determined to keep her memory alive by giving back to the Sutter Children’s Center – a children’s hospital located inside Sutter Memorial Hospital in East Sacramento – after they provided such great care for their young daughter. “Rosie was our first child and the light of our lives,” said Nicole Carollo. “When she passed I was almost desperate t

On Nov. 4, a festive Sacramento tradition will continue with the opening of the Downtown Plaza Ice Rink. 2011 marks the rink’s 20th anniversary of bringing locals together to celebrate the holidays on ice. “The rink will bring that New York City ice-skating feel (to) the heart of downtown Sacramento,” said Downtown Sacramento Partnership Marketing Director Lisa Martinez. The rink, located at 7th and K streets, provides locals with the feel of a big city winter. Martinez said that there is a painstaking process to turn St. Rose of Lima Park into a functional ice-skating rink. “It takes about three weeks, as long as the weather permits,” she said. The first step is to lay out a layer of

Instead of answering a reader question this week, I am venturing into a topic that I am fairly sure everyone faces, whether you are in a semi-serious relationship or you have been married for several decades: family holidays. Whose family do you spend them with? Do you split time? Do you rotate holidays? Do you party hop? Do you and your significant other fight about this issue? Do you and your family fight about this issue? I know it is a real problem that everyone faces today, and, unless you have just opted to blow off one or both sides of the family for the rest of your lives, you'll likely always have this issue. So let’s figure out how to make it as painless as possible for everyon

The time to recognize our mothers has come again: Mother’s Day. The Sacramento Press recently took to the streets and asked people how they make their moms feel special on Mother’s Day. Here is what they had to say: Olegario Casas, 39, is an iron worker who lives in Elk Grove. “Two weeks before Mother’s Day, I call my mom, and I send her a card and flowers because she is in Mexico,” Casas said. “I tell her I love her and I miss her and I can’t wait to see her.” Vanessa Young, 28, is a student at Syracuse University, but she comes from East Sacramento. A phone call is important, Young said. “We also go out to lunch, take a walk or go hiking – my mom likes that,” she added. Arturo

Now that the gifts have been unwrapped, the holiday parties have been held, and the Christmas tree has come down, do you know how to recycle all the holiday trimmings? “By properly disposing of all of the trash left over from the holidays, we can help save valuable landfill space and keep our environment clean ,” said Paul Philleo, Director of the Sacramento County Department of Waste Management & Recycling.” We are generally slower this time of year, which means quick turn-around for customers, so it’s easy to be green after the holidays.” Below are tips for holiday recycling: Don’t add your Christmas tree to the trash. Bring it to one of the six locations throughout Sacramento County

By Jennifer Lombardi, MFT, Co-owner & Director of Communications Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program, Sacramento (www.sedop.org) When we think of the holidays, our thoughts often go to family, friends, gift-giving, shopping and, yes, food. Celebrating the season while sharing food with loved ones is part of our collective culture and something we look forward to. But for individuals struggling with an eating disorder, this can often be one of the most distressing times of year. In the United States, an estimated 8 million girls and women and 1 million boys and men struggle with an eating disorder. Although the average age of onset is 14 to 16, there is no age, gender or cultura

Rodney Stanhope is living in a shed at Arden Fair Mall, and he isn’t there to shop. The shed lacks running water or kitchen facilities, and he “showers” with baby wipes. His living space is just big enough for a cot, a couple of camp chairs and a small shelf for his computer. Stanhope, a Navy veteran and small business owner who normally lives in Placerville, has one mission this holiday season: collecting toys for military families with one or both parents deployed overseas. “We can’t bring mom or dad home, but we can make sure they have a happy Christmas,” Stanhope said. “Their parents are out there fighting for our freedom and putting their lives on the line.” Though he partners wit

Everything is Awesome, a solo exhibition of photographs by Keith Telfeyan, opens at Cuffs, 2523 J Street, Midtown Sacramento, on December 11, 2010 and will remain on view through January 7, 2011. Cuffs is open Mon-Sat 11am-7pm and Sun Noon-7pm. The public is invited to a reception with the artist on December 11, from 6pm-10pm, as part of Sacramento’s 2nd Saturday Art Walk. Enjoy holiday snacks and drinks and Christmas tunes dj-ed by Shaun Slaughter while taking in the show. Cuffs is also sponsoring a toy drive to provide holiday gifts for children in need. Anyone who donates a toy will be entered in a drawing for a $50 certificate to the shop. For his first solo show at Cuffs, Keith has

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening, In the lane, snow is glistening A beautiful sight, We're happy tonight. Walking in a winter wonderland That’s how the famous Christmas song Winter Wonderland begins. Composer Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard B. Smith published the song back in 1934. The theme for this Christmas event at Fairytale Town, Winter Wonderland, seemed to follow the stanza of the song (and now I can’t get the song out of my head). Everyone seemed to be happy walking in a Winter Wonderland. This is probably a child’s favorite time of the year. Within the next few weeks many children will be looking toward sitting by the Christmas tree and opening up gifts that will bring th

These photos were taken with an iPhone in the Elmhurst area (53rd street, S street, T street). Most of the homes had arches on the sidewalks made of PVC pipe and strung with lights.  My favorite house of the block was the one with the snorkeling Santa.                    This is the house with the snorkeling Santa! Santa lives in a Yellow Submarine.   A jellyfish, maybe?               A Christmas tree Snowman.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Old Sacramento, what with Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, stepping out onto the Shasta House balcony for readings of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” and all. Volunteer actors from the Old Sacramento Living History Program played the roles of Clemens, Santa Claus, and an anonymous sleeper roused awake by the loud crash of Santa’s sleigh in the holiday production “Theater of Lights.” The quaint historic portion of K Street between Second and Front streets became the audience floor as a theatrical light show was presented from the balconies of buildings on either side Saturday night. Production and inspiration for this event beg