This is always a bit tricky. Putting out newspapers on December 24 and December 25.

Even in the Middle East, where Christmas this year was “Wednesday” … not much goes on. End of the year, a batch of sports taking a few months off … that happens even in Arabia.

December 24 is the slowest day on the sports calendar. I am convinced of it.

Consider. Here in Abu Dhabi, we do a rail on the day’s live televised sports events, and it often takes up 12 inches. Mounds of soccer and cricket and rugby and the stray North American sport.

For December 24? We had one cricket match in the December 25 TV log. The end.

Christmas Day, which I typically work (taking off Eve, instead), was slow, as expected. Not much more was going on; a bit more cricket, but the American sports big on December 25 (the NBA, of late), did not happen until we were done for the day.

So, what you do is have a batch of feature/profile stuff ready to go.

An interview with Andy Murray a few days before the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, the biggest tennis event in the capital. Which begins tomorrow.

Also, a batch of preview material on the English Premier League (can Liverpool win the league?), which plays every Boxing Day (December 26), and gives the week some structure, and a preview of the domestic soccer league, which also returns to action tomorrow.

It is always a nice gesture when newspaper management provides a Christmas-sy meal for those who work December 25, and at 4 p.m. a caterer brought in three turkeys with a batch of side dishes, and it all went fast. People were looking forward to it, even those who do not celebrate Christmas.

We had one live event (Pakistan v Sri Lanka cricket, a one-day international) which ended late, so it turned into pretty much a normal work day.

December 25 always is a regular work day, in daily newspapering and sports journalism. It’s part of the job description, and I think a lot of us quietly like it.