MR. KOJO NNAMDIWelcome back. Christmas Day is a day off for most people, whether they celebrate the holiday or not. But there is a small army of workers in this area, who either have to or choose to work the day. Hospitals, fire stations and news rooms still need to be staffed on Christmas. Somebody has to drive those metro buses and an increasing number of stores and restaurants require mostly lower paid and nonunionized employees to report for duty. Optional or not, working on Christmas is like working no other day.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIOur guests today will all be on the job. Joining me in studio is Chris Gordon. He's a reporter at NBC4. Chris, always a pleasure.

MR. CHRIS GORDONGood to see you, Kojo.

NNAMDIAlso in studio with us is Ellen Platte. She is a nurse at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. Ellen Platte, thank you for joining us.

MS. ELLEN PLATTEThank you for having me.

NNAMDIAnd Rose Borisow is an officer with the Montgomery County Police Department. Thank you for joining us.

MS. ROSE BORISOWThank you very much.

NNAMDIRose, you celebrate Christmas, but you have been working the Christmas nightshift most of your three decades as a Montgomery County Police officer. Is that your choice?

BORISOWActually, we try to help each other out for -- I guess I'm lucky that my family celebrates on Christmas Eve so we do our gifts and everything on Christmas Eve. Get together for dinner and then I usually don't have much going on for Christmas Night. I work in the nightshift so I go in at 8:00 p.m. 'til 6:00 in the morning. So I, you know, let everybody else off who would ordinarily practice on that day.

NNAMDIIs Christmas Night a quiet night on your job? Does crime take a break on Christmas?

BORISOWGenerally, no. Unfortunately holidays are a time of stress for people. People are drinking, getting together with family members that they're not normally around and then you add the alcohol. So sometimes that's a mixture for disaster and unfortunately that's when we get called. (laugh)

NNAMDICan the Christmas shift, therefore, be especially tough for a police officer?

BORISOWAbsolutely.

NNAMDIBecause of the kinds of things that can really disrupt your mood (laugh) on that evening?

BORISOWAbsolutely. I mean, we get paid to deal with that but it -- you know, everything you deal with affects you for the rest of your life. So you have to accept that as part of the job.

NNAMDIYou have -- it's my understanding you have been called to suicides on Christmas.

BORISOWAbsolutely. Every holiday actually, but Christmas, you know, it seems to be more poignant for people who are going through stressful things, depressing things. Maybe they've lost a loved one or your parents and your especially depressed. So as we get closer to the holidays, we are -- we definitely deal with more suicidal people.

NNAMDIYou also have some lighter Christmas Night stories. Tell us about the food fight.

BORISOW(laugh) I actually had a friend riding along that night. It's probably about ten years ago and we got called to a code three, lights and sirens domestic. As we get there some people were running out, but we get in there and there's still family members inside. There was food everywhere, like on the floor, the walls, in peoples' hair. I was stepping into potato salad on the floor so the rest of the night we were laughing with my friend, because I had potato salad stuck to the ridges in my boots for the rest of the night (laugh) .

NNAMDIThis was an internal family food fight? Was it alcohol fueled do you think?

BORISOWThat definitely had something to do with it and then maybe some drama, you know.

NNAMDIYeah, that kind of thing happens. Chris, if you're watching NBC4 on Christmas you will likely see Chris Gordon reporting the news. Chris, because you're Jewish, do you always work on Christmas, because you want to let others who celebrate the holiday have the day off?

GORDONAbsolutely. For me it became a family tradition when I learned that my father, when he was in the service, used to volunteer so that someone else could be with their family or their kids. And he used to be officer of the day or whatever and I thought that was a beautiful thing to do. So I let, you know, NBC4 know, look, if I can be helpful, if I can report or anchor and someone else can have the day off, it's kind of a family tradition.

GORDONAnd last year I tweeted that, that it was my father who encouraged me. And my son Michael Gordon, who works for WDVM in Hagerstown tweeted, and I do it and I work on Christmas here in Hagerstown covering the news in Montgomery County for Hagerstown because my father Chris Gordon does it. So it's three generations.

NNAMDIIt's a family tradition, but much as Rose gets some rough calls on Christmas, you have covered some rough stories on the holiday, even a murder. Tell us about that.

GORDONWell, it was a few years ago when the -- the Redskins had a game on Christmas Day against the Giants, a very important game. And I was watching it with my son Michael and I got a call that there had been a murder in northeast Washington. Could I go directly to it? So I drove and I took my son, who was then eight years old. And we spent the evening in a very rough neighborhood outside a garage where the owner had been to the Redskins game, came to get cash to pay his employees their Christmas bonuses. One of the employees, it turned out, knew what he was doing and robbed him at gunpoint and it turned out to be a fatal shooting.

GORDONSo I covered that and here's my eight-year-old son watching what I do. And we went from there -- I did the 11:00 news live and we drove up here to northwest Washington and I took him for the first time ever that he attended, midnight Mass. And I said, I want you to see both sides of the spectrum of life, the evil and the wonderful qualities of life including...

NNAMDIBecause had you not done that, you were afraid that his only real memory of Christmas would be that people get murdered at Christmas.

GORDONAbsolutely bright. I wanted to erase that from his mind and of course he's the one that than followed me into reporting. (laugh)

NNAMDI(laugh) There you go. Ellen Platte, in contrast to the police officers and journalists who need to chase bad news on Christmas, hospital workers may find their work a little easier on that day. Can you tell us how Christmas Day is different than other days at your hospital?

PLATTESure. For most holidays we see that patients are very motivated to get out of the hospital. We see a lot of discharges in the days leading up to Christmas. Our census tends to be a little bit lower and then we'll see patients come back in after Christmas.

NNAMDINow, I hear that if you work at Holy Cross you can actually invite your family to celebrate Christmas with you at the hospital. How does that work?

PLATTEI'm not sure that it's an invitation more so that families are separated at Christmas. And the husbands of my nurses bring in their little ones and they have lunch together on their lunch breaks, which is always a treat. And their fellow staff are really excited to see some of our (word?) babies come and join us.

NNAMDIRose, it's my understanding there's also a special Christmas meal at the precinct. What's that like?

BORISOWAbsolutely, yeah. Our captain will provide money for us to either buy chickens and then we can bring the sides ourselves. We do a mixture of different things and we find time in between all the calls to break bread together.

NNAMDIAnd it's my understanding, Ellen, that you celebrate Christmas but there are other nurses at the hospital who are Jewish, Muslim and of other faiths. What does that make the Christmas meal like that you guys have at the hospital? It's my understanding that it can be very, very entertaining.

PLATTEWe have a wonderfully diverse staff at the hospital and I think it's beautiful and always really special to see people come together to celebrate the holidays. Not everyone may celebrate Christmas with their families but they come together for a potluck. I have a nurse from Guatemala who brings in empanadas. I have a nurse from El Salvador who brings in pupusas. We have nurses from Nigeria who bring in fish pie. And it's a really special time to share our traditions from around the world.

NNAMDII wish...

BORISOWI'm stopping in down there. (laugh)

NNAMDII was about to say, I wish the show wasn't on the lunch hour. (laugh) You're making me hungry just by listening to what you're talking about. You supervise –let me ask you about how you do the scheduling. Are you -- as you're making the Christmas schedule at Holy Cross, do you also see what we can call the Chris Gordon phenomenon where non-Christians volunteer so Christians can celebrate?

PLATTEYes. Some of our nurses who do not celebrate Christmas become the most popular around the holidays (laugh) when their peers are asking them to switch holidays. I actually just got a note yesterday from two of my nursing assistants who are switching Christmas and New Year's. At the hospital if you work Christmas this year then you are off for Christmas the following year. And we also switch holidays. So if you work Thanksgiving, you're off Christmas and then you work New Years and that'll switch again for next year as well.

NNAMDIHow about at the Montgomery County Police Department, Rose. Who decides who works Christmas?

BORISOWWell, our schedules are set up years ahead of time so you'll know year in advance what you're working. And there's a little leeway for leave if it's available but generally, for midnights at least, we get paid the next day. So I skip my overtime to be off Christmas Eve but everybody else is there for Christmas Eve because they're -- we're getting that holiday pay. And then they -- a few more will take off on Christmas Day because they can enjoy that with their families.

NNAMDIChris, how about in your newsroom, who decides who works Christmas?

GORDONWell, we have the assistant news director who puts out a schedule every week. And he is good enough and kind enough to actually ask you, will you work. And negotiate to the degree that he's grateful and if you do work, for example, I do have New Year's Eve and New Year's Day off. So he comes -- nobody's forced to work and we're asked. And, again, for me it's a pleasure. It's something I do for others. There are -- there have been reporters, who have two young kids and they said, you know, I got to spend Christmas with them. Thanks for working so that was nice.

NNAMDIOnto the telephones. Here's Rachel in Silver Spring. Rachel, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

RACHELThanks for taking my call. My experience with people who worked on Christmas Day, in 1997 I was taking an international flight from Washington to New York overseas. And I was not looking forward to dealing with -- you know, I was afraid that all the staff at the airports were gonna be annoyed or depressed or whatever. And a lot of the other fliers that -- I'm Jewish, it didn't matter to me, but people maybe who had to, oh we could only get a flight on Christmas and were grumbly about missing the day with their families.

RACHELAnd instead it was exactly the opposite. There was so much good cheer and people were just sparkly and bubbly and everybody was in a great mood. And a couple of different, you know, people that I encountered, whether it was other travelers or staff behind the counters I said, you know, do you often work Christmas or, you know, did you have to work, because I was curious. And almost all of them said, you know, something to the effect of, if I landed on Christmas Day I don't mind, to others who said, oh no, I volunteer for this. I find it's the most cheerful day of the year. And it really was delightful so...

NNAMDIOkay. Thank you -- thank you very much for sharing that story with us. And I'll share with you my Christmas Day story. In 1974 on Christmas Day I was working at Howard University Radio here in Washington. And when I went to the room to check the wire services in order to do a newscast on that day something came across the wire that a man in a car had crashed through the front gates of the White House and was standing there with what seemed to be explosives strapped to his body. There were flashing lights strapped to his body and they were very afraid.

NNAMDIAnd there was a standoff between him and the secret service at the time. The President was Gerald Ford but he was out of town at the time. So I was getting ready to broadcast the story on the radio when I got a call. And the gentleman who was on the -- who was working the board at our station said, the chief of the secret service would like to have a conversation with you. And I said, that's fine. Put him on. He said, no, no, he'd like to come over to talk to you. I said, the chief of the secret service? Okay. Tell him to come on over.

NNAMDIAnd he came over. As I recall the chief at that time who came over, is name was Chief Dresher and he told me that the individual who had been -- who was in the standoff outside in front of the White House wanted me to broadcast a message. And they were able to have him tune his car radio to the station that I was broadcasting on and they -- the chief handed me the message that he wanted broadcast. The message said that he would like to meet with the Ambassador of Pakistan. And the guy had, prior to that, only been speaking in Arabic so the standoff was made much more tense by the fact that they couldn't understand him.

NNAMDIAnd so when he said he wanted to meet the Ambassador of Pakistan, I took the note from the chief and broadcast it on the air. The chief said, I'll get back with you shortly. Shortly thereafter he called back and said the individual has agreed to give himself up. It turned out that the individual's a 25-year-old young man named Marshall Fields. On that particular day he was calling himself Abdur-Raheem (sic) . His father had been in the diplomatic service and he had been educated in Cairo so he spoke with Arabic frequent -- fluently.

NNAMDIOf course, he was having mental health issues at the time when I was later able to visit with him in St. Elizabeth Hospital here. But that was one scary story for me (laugh) on that particular day. It turned out that what he had attached to his body were only traffic indicators and the like and it wasn't particularly dangerous. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.

NNAMDIWelcome back. We're talking with people who work on Christmas. Chris Gordon is a reporter at NBC4. Ellen Platte is a nurse at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. And Rose Borisow is an officer with the Montgomery County Police Department. And here is Mary in northern Virginia. Mary, your turn.

MARYHi. Thank you for taking my call. I don't normally work on Christmas. I'm a nurse and I am a homecare nurse. And all those patients that leave Holy Cross Hospital come to homecare nurses. And so even though we have off for Christmas, most homecare nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, home health aides don't really get to enjoy the holidays, because we're inundated with admissions on the day before Christmas or December 23rd. And then of course you get Christmas as a small hiatus and then things really rev up on the day after Christmas.

MARYSo I'm just asking everybody listening to just be appreciative of nurses, firemen, well, not teachers, but other workers who give up their holidays for other people.

NNAMDIEllen Platte.

PLATTEAnd I would just say thank you to all of our home health nurses because you really help our patients with the confidence to be home for the holidays. I know we had a home health nurse for my dad and she just did great things to build his confidence and how to flush his lines and how to keep his lines safe while he was home. So thank you for all that you do.

NNAMDIThank you very much for your call. Chris, I noticed that you have tweeted out on several Christmases who in your newsroom is working the holiday. Is there a certain pride that one can take in working on Christmas and feeling essential so to speak?

GORDONOh, absolutely. In fact, we have a rivalry with the NBC station in Philadelphia to see how many Jews in the news there are in your newsroom (laugh) . And that's the -- and I say that with all love and respect ado in this politically-correct time. But there are people -- Jason Gittlen, one of our just great editor supervisors, will produce the news. I don't think he produces the news another night of the year. Matt Glassman, our assistance news director, always comes in to be part of it. Our writers, our editors, and we gather -- and there have been people from all other religions and background -- ethnic backgrounds who say, can we be part of your pictures? Can we be (laugh) on your picture as well this -- so we'll take that again this Christmas.

NNAMDIOn now to Theresa in Columbia, Maryland. Theresa, your turn.

THERESAHi, Kojo. I have never had to work on Christmas but I just wanted to share my appreciation for all of the medical staff who do. We had a very stressful personal experience six years ago. On Christmas Eve my husband who was only 42 years old at the time had a heart attack and was in the hospital over Christmas. And I'm so thankful for the staff who took care of him who sacrificed what was a chance they could've been home with their families, to treat him.

THERESAAnd particularly our kids were too young at the time to go into the ICU. On Christmas Day the nurses let them come in so they could see their daddy. And that was the best Christmas gift I -- it still makes me emotional to think about it. So I'm really grateful for all of the doctors, nurses and medical care providers.

NNAMDIAnd we're grateful for your call, Theresa. I can hear the emotion in your voice. Thank you very much for calling. Ellen, you say that for many patients their time in the hospital is the worst time of their lives and that staff have to remember that, even on Christmas when there's that great big potluck in the break room. But how do you try to kindle Christmas cheer and empathize with distraught sick people at the same time?

PLATTEI think that our staff do a great job of connecting with our patients. I was telling Lauren, when we were talking about the show, that it's not just on Christmas. It's birthdays, it's anniversaries. We recently had a patient -- two patients who had birthdays while they were in the hospital. And the staff, without any prompting from leadership, went down to the gift shop to buy them flowers and balloons and to bring in cake to celebrate with the patients. So we celebrate holidays, we facilitate wedding ceremonies and birthdays and the like 365 days a year.

NNAMDIRose, how do you keep the Christmas spirit after a great Christmas Eve with your family when you have to grapple with some very bad human behavior on the job just hours later?

BORISOWWell, for one thing, we joke around with each other, try to keep everything lighthearted with each other because you can't do that on calls. And then while we're running calls, if we come across somebody in need where we can possibly do something positive, we take those opportunities where they come up. And it doesn't happen often but I remember a few years ago we had a whole family, they had six kids, one in a baby carriage, brand new baby. They had come too late in the day right before the Christmas Season to, at the government center to get assistance for that day. And they were closed up.

BORISOWWe had just reported for duty at 8:00 p.m. so we came out of roll call and they gave us this call for this family who refuses to leave the government center. And it sounds very -- like they were being, you know, out of control or something, so you go there with that in your mind. And when I got there we were taken back with the fact that it was this whole family of six kids from infant to maybe five and two parents. And they were calm, very obedient, you know, very chill.

BORISOWSo I was like, we can't kick these people out into -- now, we have to be the bad guys, right, and kick them out into the street because they came too late to apply for services that day Well, it's not acceptable so we tried to place them somewhere. Everything was full. We had no options and there was no way -- it was cold out -- that we were gonna kick this family out into the cold. So actually one of our officers paid with a credit card for a hotel room for the night, and I went to the grocery store, because I said -- nobody had food on them. I said, when's the last time you ate, and they just kind of looked at me blankly.

BORISOWClearly they hadn't eaten in God knows how long so I went with my credit card to the grocery store and filled up two carts and we -- you know, it was a quick fix for just a short period. I know that but, you know, you do what you can.

NNAMDIBeautiful story anyway.

BORISOWAnd that was Officer Josh Lock who paid for the motel room. (laugh)

NNAMDIGlad you gave him a shout out.

BORISOWAbsolutely.

NNAMDIHere's Amanda in Columbia, Maryland. Amanda, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

AMANDAHi, Kojo. I am Jewish and I work on Christmas and I am a dog sitter, so I get to take care of all the pets that don't get to be with their families on Christmas.

NNAMDIOh, that must be a lot of fun. How many pets do you handle on Christmas?

AMANDAOh, on Christmas this year I'll probably have about 20 or 25.

NNAMDIWoo, how difficult is that?

AMANDAIt can be a little challenging. I just have to go from location to location and just make sure all the dogs are happy.

NNAMDIWell, thank you very much for doing that and thank you very much for your call.

AMANDAThank you.

NNAMDIOn to Joan in Waldorf, Maryland. Joan, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

JOANHello, Kojo. Yeah, just have people keep in mind the people that work at retail, restaurants, gas stations. They don't get a lot of shout outs for working the holidays and it's happening more and more as opposed to when I was a kid. So they deserve some kudos too.

NNAMDIOkay. Thank you very much for remembering those people. Ellen, in addition to nurses and doctors, who else shows up at the hospital on Christmas?

PLATTEAbsolutely. The hospital couldn't run without our housekeepers to keep our patients safe from infections. We have rehab medicine therapists, our physical therapists and occupational therapists. We have case managers and social workers and of course physicians and phlebotomists. The list just goes on and on and we would be remiss to not thank them for all of their hard work as well.

NNAMDIWe got -- we heard from Chuck on twitter. Chuck tweeted, I was an FDNY, Fire Department of New York firefighter for 14 years and I'm now a trauma nurse in northern Virginia. Being part of the safety net is a privilege. Working holidays means we're necessary. Is that a sentiment that you share, Rose?

BORISOWAbsolutely. We go into it knowing that we're gonna be working those holidays. That, you know, is part of the sacrifice and the many sacrifices that we make to do this job. So we just hope we go home alive at the end of the night. (laugh)

NNAMDIAnd a lot of us in the media, Chris, get to take Christmas Day off but increasingly we have come to rely on television news on Christmas Day to tell us what's been going on while we've been sitting around the table.

GORDONAnd of course we in television news are hoping that our station's the one that has the football game on. (laugh) But, you know, we're also staffed in case anything happens. And I'm -- as I said, I'm scheduled 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Christmas Day. I'm going to be, Christmas Eve, reporting at 3:00 p.m. and allowing Jackie Bensen and Shomari Stone to be with their families.

GORDONBut I also want to recognize, and it's a story I'm sure you've done, Kojo. The JCC in DC, the Jewish Community Center always has a tradition of volunteering on Christmas Day, going out, whether it's feeding the homeless, whether it's helping out to work that day, to volunteer that day in our community.

NNAMDIYep, that is very important. Rose, who else besides officers needs to work on Christmas?

BORISOWWith our...

NNAMDIWith the police department, yeah.

BORISOWOh, support staff. We have police service aides that work the front desk. Dispatchers, of course we couldn't do our job without dispatchers. We work very closely with the other first responders, EMS, Emergency Medical and the firefighters.

NNAMDIHere now is Veda in Washington. Veda, your turn.

VEDAHey, Kojo, I'm a flight attendant. Been doing it for quite a while and obviously all of us crew members have found ourselves working one Christmas or another and will just add a couple of things. Hats off to all the agents. In fact I commute from Washington. D.C. to Portland, Oregon and I'm about to take them all a case of sparkling wine to thank them for all they do. And, yeah, just whatever -- with young kids at home what I've done in the past -- my kids aren't so young anymore, but Christmas will be whatever day you actually end up being home.

NNAMDIYeah, I guess so. You make Christmas whatever date that is. Thank you for sharing your story with us, Veda. Ellen, we should talk about the families of the people who are working on Christmas who is left at home. Who's left at home when you're at the hospital on Christmas?

PLATTEMy husband and my two fur babies are left at home. (laugh) On the Christmases that I don't work we go home to New England where I grew up. But he spends a lot of time with his family while I'm at the hospital.

NNAMDIWhat would you be doing if you did not have to work Christmas this year, Rose?

BORISOWWell, let's see, well, I do artwork on the side so I would be working on that. And exercising, eating, watching TV. But I ask some of my friends who are police officers in other parts of the county or the country, because they have kids, how they handle that sort of thing. And they said they work around it by telling the kids that Santa Clause either came early or later. So they -- you know, we know going into it that we're gonna have to deal with that and we have coping strategies for it.

NNAMDIA lot of people we don’t think about, Elizabeth in Arlington called. I'm a conductor. Musicians, vocalists, church employees are providing a service and have to give up holidays with their families to provide music. Thank you very much Elizabeth for remembering all of the conductors and musicians and others. Chris, it seems ironic that as a child your Jewish family often had to work very hard on Hanukah in the nights leading up to Christmas, but had Christmas off. How did that happen?

GORDONWell, let me set the scene. I grew up in Utica, New York. My father and mother, Al and Alice Gordon, had a boys shop, My Boys Shop clothing retail and the University Shop. Well, of course, they're open every night 'til 9:00 during Christmas Season. And when Hanukah, as it did this year, falls before Christmas, they were working. So my mom would try to create at least an hour or so to either run home or send my dad home so we would light the Hanukah candles and we would have the -- an exchange of gifts. And then she or my dad would go back downtown to Genesee Street to operate the store.

GORDONAnd for us the only day off was Christmas Day so that would be our big exchange of gifts. Well, one year I remember the cantor from our temple showed up to visit us on Christmas Day. He was a former operatic star in Germany and I remember him distinctly saying, what happened here? It looks like Christmas. (laugh) What happened?

NNAMDI(laugh) That's a very funny story. Rose, you belong to a union. Does that make a difference in the control offices have over the schedule on holidays and whether you get paid more on those days?

BORISOWWell, we do get holiday pay, absolutely, but you get scheduled what you get scheduled and we know, like I said, going into it that we're gonna have to sacrifice that.

NNAMDIWe got an email from Mia who says, I work for TSA this and all Christmases. Lack of seniority will do that to you. We will try to be cheerful, pleasant and helpful but, of course, (word?) it would be most helpful if passengers arrived on time. Can't help you with that one, Mia, but thank you very much for sharing your story with us. Here's Nichole in Herndon, Virginia. Nichole, your turn.

NICHOLEHi, Kojo. My father has been a federal corrections officer for all of my life and I'm in my thirties. He just retired last year and he will be spending Christmas with the family for the first time and we have no idea what to do with him. We're gonna be glad to see him.

NNAMDII think you'll figure something out, Nichole. (laugh)

NICHOLE(laugh) That's the plan.

NNAMDIThank you very much and welcome to your dad. And Yolanda in northern Virginia. You're on the air, Yolanda. Go ahead, please.

YOLANDAYes. A year ago I stopped celebrating holidays after my sister was murdered but I find -- since then I volunteer my time. And like Thanksgiving I was feeding the homeless at Carolina Kitchen and for Christmas this year the Basilica in DC spent (sic) the entire day feeding the homeless and the needy room 7:00 a.m. to like 4:00 p.m. And I'll be splitting my time between the Basilica and the Adas Israel Synagogue because they also do the major volunteer efforts of the year called D25 to where they go visit the elderly in nursing homes and all of that. And the people that do this, just the attitudes and the joy that I see with them and their interaction and the people that are receiving it, that is just so grateful to have someone there to do this for them.

NNAMDIThank you very much for your call. And finally here's Mike in northern Virginia. Mike. you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

MIKEGreetings. Yeah, I grew up with my father working for the electric company where we lived. And all of those -- all of the utility folks, they have, you know, crews that have to be able to roll anytime, you know, when the weather misbehaves. And he was one of the guys that goes and, you know, climbs poles during thunder storms and such.

NNAMDIOh, yeah.

MIKESo -- and -- but more than a few times we took Christmas dinner to the guys at the operation center.

NNAMDIAnd I'm afraid that's all the time we have, Mike, but thank you very much for sharing that with us. Chris Gordon, Ellen Platte, Rose Borisow, thank you all for joining us.

BORISOWThank you so much.

PLATTEThank you.

NNAMDIToday's conversation on who works on Christmas was produced by Lauren Markoe. Our update on DC's new hospital was produced by Monna Kashfi. Coming up tomorrow on the politics hour we'll sit down with former gubernatorial candidate Maya Rockymoore Cummings. She was recently elected chair of the state's Democratic Party. Plus DC Councilmember David Grosso joins us to give us a rundown on the Council's final session of this year. That all starts tomorrow at noon. Until then, thank you for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.