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 bell ringer: An unemployed nurse summons the good in people’s hearts while collecting for the Salvation Army.

Shirley Bloch sat ringing her familiar bell in front of a Target store in Northridge on a recent cold morning, clad in a blue skirt and red Salvation Army jacket, topped off with a Santa hat.

As people put money into the red kettle at her side, she smiled at them, telling each: “God bless you. Have a peaceful season.”

Bloch, a nurse currently between jobs, said she was looking for employment during the holiday season and the position as a Salvation Army bell ringer “was the only thing that opened up.”

But she is motivated by more than simply needing a job, she said.

“The Lord inspired my heart--traveling the city streets, seeing all the homeless people,” she said. “And my eyes were filled with the masses of homeless people, from children to senior citizens.”

She sees the Salvation Army as an organization that is responding effectively to this problem. “They do so much for the needy and the homeless.”

Bloch has been at her station every day for the past 2 1/2 weeks and says that the economic downturn hasn’t seemed to stop people from dropping in a dollar or two.

“I just trust the Lord, and almost every night, this kettle is full,” she said, estimating that she turns in about $100 each day. “There are so many generous people. It just touches my heart to see this.”

Bloch said there is no pressure in her delivery. People walking past her, in and out of the store, hear the bell and are reminded of the opportunity to give. Some people in a hurry will walk past her, stop dead in their tracks when they hear her ringing the bell, and turn back to put something in the kettle.

She has had some unusually generous donations. One man who was looking for a charity to give a Christmas donation to dropped in a check for $400. A woman deposited a check for $80.

And the kindness of people who see her shivering in the cold touches her as well. One particularly cold evening, a woman brought her a cup of hot chocolate.

But it is the children, who shyly approach with money given to them by their parents, that she especially enjoys.

“Sometimes, children will ask, ‘Why are you ringing the bell?’ ” she said. “I tell them, ‘You’re helping to make a sandwich, giving someone a cup of soup,’ and they go off skipping. They’re so happy.”