For many of us Christmas Day will be spent unwrapping presents, feasting with family and squabbling over the TV remote.

But while we overindulge, there are others who will be out there keeping the county ticking over.

In addition to legions of police officers, firefighters and ambulance workers on call to deal with emergencies, there will also be others working more unexpected jobs.

From zookeepers to football groundsman, there will be people from all walks of life putting in a shift or two over the festive period.

KentOnline has spoken to some of the county's unsung heroes who will be setting aside the turkey and tinsel this year to ensure business as usual.

Howletts animal presenter and keeper, Seren Cottrell

For animal presenter Seren Cottrell, known as 'Ren', Christmas Day will be spent with Kent's only giant anteaters and a herd of African elephants.

The wildlife enthusiast usually spends her working week educating visitors as part of encounter sessions held at Howletts Wild Animal Park in Bekesbourne, near Canterbury.

But over the festive period she also mucks in with the zookeepers to help care for the animals.

Ren, 24, said: "On Christmas Day we will come in nice and early and start at around 8am.

"My morning will start with cleaning the anteater enclosure and making sure it is nice and tidy for them."

She explains anteaters have no teeth and so use their specialised extra long tongues to eat up to 30,000 ants and termites each day.

But as zookeepers don't have time to count each and every bug they devise an "insect-based porridge" to ensure the toothless mammal sucks up their meal.

"It's almost like a protein shake where you add water to it," she adds. "But instead of it being a delicious strawberry flavoured milkshake, it's made completely of insects."

Next up for Ren is the more physical – and slightly less glamorous – task of helping clear some of the mess left behind by the park's 14 elephants.

But it's not all work and no play, with ample time for festive fun including sessions where they gift monkeys Christmas presents in the form of treat parcels wrapped in old newspaper.

"It is going to sound really cheesy but the team we have and the animals, they are like your family," she said.

"Any day you come in it's just a lovely place to work and somewhere anything can happen.

"Anything can be going on at home and you could come in and there will be that one animal that will make you smile."

Funeral director John Weir

Should the worst imaginable happen on Christmas Day, funeral directors will be on-hand to offer their reassurance.

For John Weir, who’s been in the family funeral business for more than 50 years, the festive period will see at least six members of his team on call, around the clock.

Whether the call comes in at 3am or halfway through Christmas dinner, as Mr Weir has experienced himself, the turkey and trimmings will go on hold.

"The physical buildings may close but we still manage the phones," says the 69-year-old, who has funeral homes in Rainham, Chatham, Parkwood and Gillingham.

"People don't just stop dying on those days. You can have one Christmas Day when you don't get any calls but equally on another you can get several. There is no rhyme or reason."

Regardless of whether the death falls on December 25 or otherwise, you can expect a funeral director at the scene "within about 45 minutes", he explains.

Typically this will involve a staff member putting on their uniform and travelling to the person's home, hospice, or hospital.

A cause does not need to be established at this stage but before the funeral director can collect a body they will need to verify via a nurse or healthcare professional that life is extinct.

And although funerals don't take place on Christmas Day there is still much that needs to happen behind the scenes – and often very quickly.

"What is of vital importance is that people have got that reassurance," says Mr Weir. "They have just lost a loved one and they want to know they are going to be able to speak to someone.

The undertaker adds: "For lots of people they are catapulted into a situation they know little about.

"I always compare it to weddings which are planned months and months in advance. But a funeral comes straight after a death and in a matter of days decisions have to be taken."

Head groundsman at Dartford Football Club, Jay Berkhauer

Head groundsman Jay Berkhauer will be making sure the pitch at Dartford FC's Princes Park Stadium is in tip-top condition for the busy festive fixture schedule ahead.

Jay, 35, said: "If you've got a Boxing Day game the chances are the grounds teams all around the country will be in Christmas morning - cutting, marking and prepping.

"Then off home to have your dinner and drinks and then back in early Boxing Day morning to set up for the game."

Jay has worked at football, rugby and cricket grounds all over Kent and London including Charlton Athletic's The Valley and The Oval cricket ground.

Besides the fixtures themselves, he says the next big challenge is the weather.

This involves checking the Met Office for updates, he says, but the stadium, which also hosts the London City Lionesses, has its own weather station on the roof too.

"It's all fluid depending on the weather," Jay adds. "If you've got frost, snow or rain on Christmas Day or around that time your match prep completely changes.

"If you've got rain you might leave it but if you've got frost you're putting the covers down hoping you can get them up ready for the game.

"The last thing you want is snow, then you really are up against it."

And while the thought of leaving your warm bed on Christmas morning to pull up frost covers in sub-zero temperatures may seem a bizarre choice for many, Jay wouldn't have it any other way.

"This job, I have always said if you don't love it, you won't do it," the groundsman said.

"It's just impossible to get out of bed on Christmas morning and leave your family to come in to get the pitch ready for a game if you don't love it."

On-road traffic team manager at National Highways, Callum Harkness

Over at National Highways, Callum Harkness and a team of traffic officers will be working hard to ensure everyone arrives safely at their destination on the big day.

Christmas morning will start with a briefing and a mince pie at one of the various outstations scattered across Kent.

"Hopefully nothing serious has happened overnight," says Callum, 30. "It will then be a case of checking patrol vehicles before assigning areas to officers who work in teams."

Whether it be assisting with a breakdown near the Dartford Crossing or keeping traffic moving along the M20, officers will be on hand to keep the county's roads flowing come sleet or snow.

Callum expects it will likely to be busy on Christmas morning up until around midday when it drops off, he says.

"When we are sat up parked on the road people think we are doing nothing," he said. "But it's sod's law if we are moving all the time the incident will happen behind us."

"I personally find people are in a slightly better mood and we never leave people when there isn't a solution for them."

But on the roads he says the people they go out to tend to be in better spirits and often friends and family "chip in" and help.

"I think some people can be more frustrated on the way to work than if something goes wrong on Christmas Day," he adds.

"I personally find people are in a slightly better mood and we never leave people when there isn't a solution for them."

Despite this, he says shifts can still get a "little lonely" , adding: "although staff have families some live on their own, so we try and have a little bit of fun like a quiz or a joke."

To help prevent against a breakdown or an accident, he says, people planning to drive over Christmas should check their car before setting off, plan ahead and leave plenty of time for their journey.

And if things do go slightly awry, Callum's best advice is accept it and not to make any last minute, hasty decisions.

"You can always turn off at the next junction."