Holiday duty is an inevitable part of being a newspaper reporter. News doesn’t stop on holidays, and unlike Santa, journalists don’t have elves to help them out.

But for me, working on a holiday such as Thanksgiving or Christmas is fun and not a chore. It’s a change of pace, and a chance to be more creative. And of course, there’s always the chance that something unexpected (almost always bad) will happen.

The blessings of a warm meal and companionship seem even more poignant on Thanksgiving, as it was for this man at Escondido's Salvation Army branch. Photo by Bill Costello.