I read a great post the other day that I wanted to link to so I can remember to read it again when I have more time. Lisa wrote about an experience she had during her first month as a nurse, A 36-Hour Day. Thought-provoking, to say the least. Her writing made me feel like I was there — experiencing the stress and worries along with her. She also made me appreciate what nurses go through. Here’s part of her blog entry:

I guess tonight it dawned on me that this will be the first Christmas in 15 years that I’m not spending with a live pager on my hip with the very likely possibility of having to be called away from my own family on Christmas day to go help someone else’s family….or fill in when the nursing staff is so short staffed they simply can’t cope.

The last 5 years – I spent working in home hospice. I wore a pager all the time… 24/7. I’d be afraid to go to sleep at night..worried that 30 minutes after falling asleep, my pager would go off and I’d have to get up, get dressed and drive for an hour to help a patient who was in intractable pain… or help a family member deal with the death of their loved one in the middle of the night. Usually, it was the nights that I talked myself into actually going to sleep..tell myself that the pager would be kind – – those were the night the pager would definitely go off.

I will actually be able to spend this Christmas with my family without the worry of being called away. The first time in 15 years.

Well, I hope you have the best Christmas ever, Lisa!

While I’ve been caught up in the whirl of parties and to-do lists, I forget that many people will either be patients or staff in a hospital over the holidays. If you’re around any nurses this week, take a moment and tell them how much they’re appreciated. Even a smile can make a difference in whether someone has a good day or not.

I have several friends who are nurses — and they always amaze me. I don’t see how they do it — they work long shifts at weird hours, with little sleep. Then when they get off work, they go back to their other full-time jobs as wives, moms, students, etc.

So, this is my tribute to all the nurses who work throughout the Christmas season, without a break — thanks for all you do!

On a different note — since we all know that laughter reduces stress, here are a couple of links that made me chuckle:

Not every child is happy to see Santa

Nothing says Happy Holidays like a photo of sweet little toddlers screaming at Santa. The first 25 photos in this gallery are from the Chicago Tribune’s “Scared of Santa” contest. All the rest of the photos were submitted by SouthFlorida.com readers. Enjoy!

Dave Barry’s Christmas Gift Guide

This is not your ordinary gift guide, the kind that features gifts that somebody might actually want or use. These gifts were selected because they meet a very strict criterion, which is that when we saw the item advertised, we said to ourselves: “Are they SERIOUS?”