The Folks Who Bring You Christmas . . .

It’s finally Christmas morning, and another hectic holiday season is almost over.

Santa has come and gone, and most of the colorful wrappings are torn from packages that were under the brightly decorated tree. The stockings that were hung by the chimney with care lie discarded on the floor.

Preparations for Christmas dinner are under way, and the smell of roasting turkey wafts from many a kitchen. Thoughts turn to family and friends who will gather later.

All but forgotten are the crowded parking lots, the long lines and the rest of the nerve-racking hustle-bustle that goes with the season.

Also far from most of our minds are the people who helped bring us Christmas--the store clerk who painstakingly helped select that special tie or cologne, the delivery man who banged on your door each time a package arrived, the nice woman who hand-packed a box of candy and waited patiently as you made your selections.

Most who provide services to people during the holidays have worked long hours and have had little time for Christmas preparations for themselves.

“I have one day off before Christmas, and I haven’t even bought one gift,” said a harried clerk in a women’s clothing store last week.

“We’ve been open until 11 every night. I didn’t want to work this much.”

Following are a few examples of people who made Christmas a little brighter for others this year. Their stories were compiled by Times staff writers.

The tamale maker: A restaurateur and her family prepare 100,000 of the traditional Mexican Yuletide treats.

For 2 1/2 months, Amelia Carrillo Luna and five of her workers have been up to their elbows in masa .

Masa --ground cornmeal mixed with lard--is the principal ingredient in tamales, a traditional meal for Mexican families on Christmas Eve. Since late September, Luna has supervised a crew that has worked eight hours a day, four days a week, stockpiling more than 100,000 handmade tamales at Carrillo’s Tortilleria in San Fernando in preparation for the holiday onslaught.

“It’s like a madhouse here” in the days before Christmas, said Luna, 64, whose parents started the restaurant nearly 50 years ago. Now, she runs the family business with her husband, Epigmenio, along with their daughter and four sons, who she says “grew up in the business.”

In addition to the flagship San Fernando store, the family has opened branches in Canoga Park, Simi Valley, Valencia and Agoura Hills.

Luna said she starts taking orders for tamales after Thanksgiving and that people who call to order them in the days before Christmas find themselves disappointed. All the tamale makers’ time is consumed preparing the orders they already have, steaming the frozen tamales and packing them in containers.

Carrillo’s not only provides the finished product, but also sells chile sauce and masa for those who want to make their own tamales.

The tamales are made of pork, beef or chicken and chile sauce rolled in masa and wrapped in a corn husk. They are the main course of what is the most important family event of the year for many Latinos. “That’s when all the family gathers--grandchildren, cousins, aunts, uncles, great grandchildren,” Luna said. “Everybody is making tamales, eating and enjoying.”

She said the recipe for the Sonoran-style tamales Carrillo’s makes was handed down to her from her mother.

“We never change anything in the recipe,” she said. “They won’t come out if we change anything.”

The one concession, for those watching their cholesterol, is to make the masa with low-cholesterol oil instead of lard, if the customer provides the oil.

Although there is light at the end of the tunnel, the heavy workload is starting to take its toll on Carrillo’s employees.

“They’re sick of it,” Luna said. “And they still have to make their own.”

Luna said that she and her family are taking Christmas Day off. But the morning after, they will be back at work, selling tamales for families who want them for New Year’s celebrations.

Rest and a well-deserved vacation will have to wait until after Jan. 1. “Me and my husband, we’re going to Hawaii to hang loose,” Luna said.