LEWISTON – Singing, revelry, gifting and ‘nog. On Tuesday night, everyone sat snug at home with family or friends, sated on happiness, roasted chestnuts and figgy pudding.

Except for Renee Bixby, 23, of Auburn, working behind the counter at the Route 4 Cumberland Farms. And Lt. Michael McGonagle and Officer Ryan Guay, of the Lewiston Police Department, busily attending to police calls Christmas night. And don’t forget the doctors and nurses, the servicemen, the people (Jews, Muslims and Witnesses, just for starters) who don’t celebrate the holiday, the priests and ministers busy making sure it’s celebrated thoroughly enough and … lots of other people.

Guay, 27, has been working on the holiday for years now, but this one was a bit hard. “This was one of the crucial Christmases,” he said, referring to the fact his three kids (all under four) are now old enough to appreciate the holiday – and to miss him.

“You know, my son asked if I had the day off. It’s kind of frustrating when you have to say no. But my son always says, ‘don’t let the bad guys get you,'” Guay said.

He still celebrates with his family on the 25th – it seems many people with young children, who work on the holiday, try to fit it all into one day. “I worked Christmas Eve and got home around midnight,” he said. “I did some last minute wrapping and was up until about 1:30. We slept in to a whopping 7:30.” Guay said it all with a chuckle and a smile on his face, describing the gifts his wife and kids gave him and the toddler things they said to him before he left for work Tuesday evening. But, he said, even though he knew it was Christmas, it didn’t quite feel like it.

Still, he said, he knew going into police work he’d be working on Christmas. “Crime doesn’t stop on the holidays,” he said. And the fact some people are willing to work – doctors, servicemen and women, ambulance drivers and firefighters, he said – makes it all the more possible for everyone else to celebrate.

Auburn officer Matt Johnson, of Poland, echoed his words. “I just feel like somebody’s got to do it,” he said. Next year, after his baby arrives, it’ll be harder, he said. He’ll be Christmasing on the 28th this year, he added.

At the Cumberland Farms out on Route 4, Renee Bixby was trying to make the best of her holiday at work. “I stayed up until 3 getting my son’s stuff ready,” she said. It didn’t feel like Christmas. “But we will (celebrate) tomorrow. And, I mean, I get double time and…it’s bills season.”

Few people who celebrate the holiday enjoy working it, she said.

For those who don’t, it’s another story entirely.

The atmosphere inside Temple Shalom on Tuesday night was bright and cheerful, as 35-or-so people gathered to watch a comedy and eat Chinese take-out – the embodiment of an old joke, said Lesli Weiner of Gray. “Everyone always says, ‘What else do the Jews do on Christmas but Chinese and a movie,'” she said. Of course, many in the community are members of interfaith families and celebrate with relatives on the holiday, she said – but for others, it’s nice to get together and do something fun on day when there’s not much else to do. Is it hard, not to be Christmasing when so many others in the community are?

Sometimes it can be a little difficult when the kids are young, said Trish Paumhoff, of Norway. In this area, especially, where so few people are Jewish, it’s easy to compare relatively-small holiday Hanukkah with major-holiday Christmas. But Jews have holidays all year round, she said. “Hanukkah’s not the biggest – it’s Passover, and Yom Kippur and Shabbat, which is every Friday.”

But it’s really not very hard, said Weiner, when you have a strong Jewish identity. Her comment echoed what Guay and Johnson said: when the reasons for not celebrating are good ones, it’s not that bad.

McGonagle volunteered for the Christmas shift. He has no kids, he said, and doesn’t mind celebrating on other days. Besides, he said, “I actually enjoy it – I really enjoy working.”