As you sit back in your armchair sated with turkey, new potatoes and a sherry trifle this Christmas Day, spare a thought for those having to make a visit to the emergency department.
Then spare a thought for the doctors and nurses who will spend the day taking care of those people.
After that, you might also spare a thought for the unpaid people who help out those emergency department staff and their patients.
The Friends of the Emergency Department, or "Feds" as they call themselves, have a uniform and are part of a crack team, but are not trained medical professionals, just people who like to give something back to the community.
This Sunday, Catherine Smith and Don Myers will be two of the Feds on duty, completing their four-hour shifts in Dunedin Hospital's emergency department as usual - only it is not a usual day.
"There's something cheerier about the department on Christmas Day," Mr Myers said.
It will be his second Christmas Day shift in the emergency department, where Feds help out by keeping things tidy, sometimes making beds for patients or cups of tea for them or their family members, chatting with patients, assisting staff or helping patients with any manner of things from how to work a phone to helping them eat a meal.
"We know where we fit in, and you quickly work out when to take a step back," Mr Myers (75), who has been a Fed for four years, said.
His whole family had spent time in the emergency department at some stage and when he heard St John was getting involved in the day-to-day activity in the department, he thought it would be a good way to help out.
It was also a great social activity for him now that he was in his 70s and on his own, and gave him a worthwhile task to do.
"It's a team thing too - I feel like I'm part of a team culture." While Christmas Day was not too different from any other in the emergency department, it could sometimes mean bigger groups coming in with a patient, creating a few "crowd-control" issues.
Otherwise it was just a few extra decorations, a special dinner meal and a touch more cheer.
Catherine Smith (56) said it would be her first Christmas Day volunteering as a Fed.
There were certainly other things she could be doing between 2pm and 6pm on Christmas Day, but it was her regular shift and she had "absolutely no issue" with coming in.
She became a Fed after reading about it in the ODT and found it was just what she had been looking for.
She had received emergency department care more than once, and had been looking for a way she could help.
"It's about giving back."
The Feds programme manager, Eileen Stephen, St John Dunedin area executive officer, said 62 people volunteered as Feds.
The Feds programme is an extension of the St John community services.
