I drive past the local IHOP restaurant every day on my way to work. For the past couple of weeks their sign has advertised that they will be open 24 hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas.

I've never been much of a holiday person, and it just made me that much more depressed to think about the people who have to work at 2 a.m. on Christmas Eve. So I showed up last night to shoot a photo column and meet the people who were up working while the rest of the world was asleep waiting for the big day.

Come to find out, the place had a really warm feeling to it. All the employees were resigned to the fact that they had to work and made the most of it. Wifes or husbands came by in the middle of the night to say hi to their spouses at work. The line cook was going to get off by 5 a.m. so he would be there by the time his kids got up to unwrap their presents.

And Jackie, one of the servers, brought her eight month old daughter to work for a while until her husband could come pick her up. She said she wasn't happy about working on Christmas Eve, but she needs the money. And she felt okay because her daughter is not old enough to be disappointed.

I wasn't supposed to take this picture because the manager was not happy about the baby being there. But Jackie said it was alright.