As we get closer to Christmas, many of us are preparing to travel home to spend the festive period with family and friends, whether we're driving, taking the train - or even flying to those reunions.
It's a special time for those at Belfast City Airport, with staff members from all departments trying their best to make the experience for passengers travelling through the airport as stress-free, seamless, and full of festive cheer as they can.
Behind the huge Christmas tree in the terminal, weekly performances from school choirs, colorful decorations catching your eye everywhere you look, and even Santa making an appearance, there is a dedicated team working behind the scenes to keep spirits up as passengers travel to loved ones.
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At the peak of Christmas travelling, which is expected around December 20, the team at Belfast City Airport anticipate around 10,000 people will come through the airport's doors each day, travelling both to and from Northern Ireland.
Such high passenger numbers mean the airport need to be prepared for all issues that may crop up, with winter planning beginning months in advance.
We spent an afternoon at the airport in the lead-up to the busy Christmas season, hearing from staff in all departments about how they plan to manage increased passenger numbers, and how they're making the festive season one to remember.
Operations Manager, Judith Davis, told Belfast Live how they're planning to make travel as stress-free as possible. She said: "For all of our passengers, the most important thing is they can get through the airport safely and easily for their flights. Coming up to Christmas, a lot more people are travelling either to come home for Christmas or going over to friends and families for the holiday period.
"We start our planning early as we have winter operations, so we need to be conscious we have everything in place for winter. The most important thing is we have enough staffing, we have additional staff on for all of the peak periods.
"The other things we need to be mindful of is getting messaging out to passengers about what they can bring with them when travelling. There have been recent changes in security regulations, so it's just making sure to get this advice out to passengers as it's a thing that can change from airport to airport.
"We've had really positive feedback from our passengers about the changes. You can now leave your laptops, liquids under 100ml in your hand luggage. It makes it much easier for passengers to get through security swiftly."
Airport Duty Manager, Louise McGranaghan, has been working at City Airport for almost 35 years. She said there is always a great buzz around the terminal at Christmas, whether you're arriving or departing.
As one of the airport's Duty Managers, Louise is part of a team responsible for the day-to-day operations, including the terminal, airfield, and landside.
She said: "It's a special time of the year, the team really comes together to make it special for everybody coming and going. This year has been particularly good as we've started a staff choir, the Belfast City Belters, so we've had a lot of rehearsals with our debut being at the Christmas light switch-on. It really brings everyone together - we have people from all departments at the airport coming together.
"The decorations, music, the reunions; it's a really special time of the year. It's obviously very busy and you can never guarantee what's going to happen with the weather, but it's keeping a nice flow and buzz through the airport.
"Travel can be stressful enough at times, especially around Christmas, but we're hoping the festivities can make it a bit more pleasant for people."
Louise said this year, they've noticed a lot of people travelling to Belfast in recent weeks to enjoy the festivities such as the Belfast Christmas Market.
"We're starting to get a lot more holiday traffic coming through now, with a lot of people travelling over for the Christmas Market," she explained.
"We used to get a lot of people going out, but we're seeing a lot coming in, Belfast is so vibrant and busy now, every weekend the flights coming in are just packed."
Aileen O'Kane is the airport's Head of People and Purpose, and is in charge of putting together a lot of the festivities in the terminal, such as performances from Belfast City Airport's seven adopted school choirs.
She said Christmas is always a "lovely time" to be working at the airport. "I love seeing the passenger interaction this time of year. We're lucky we're not just sitting in an office, we're getting to see that. We really are at the heart of the community here and it's nice to be part of such a joyous time of the year," Louise added.
"In November, we had our official light switch-on at our tree inside the terminal doors, and we had pupils from our seven adopted schools down who helped Santa switch-on the Christmas lights.
"Each of the schools come in on differrent days, they're P5 or P6 pupils, and they will sing for passengers arriving, those leaving, and all the staff as well. They come in over the Christmas period and do that for around an hour or so, it's a lovely event.
"We also invited Age NI in for a lovely morning at the airport. It's a great send-off for passengers heading off for family reunions, or passengers returning home for Christmas.
"Santa will also be milling around the airport, he could be in the terminal, he could be anywhere, in the run-up to Christmas.
"There will be a really welcoming atmosphere here at the airport. We know people can be saying goodbye, they can be heading off, but it's lovely to see the reunions when people come through the arrivals hall. We hope our passengers have a wonderful experience coming through the airport."
Santa Claus is a familiar face many will see around Belfast City Airport during the festive period, with the big man even having his own security pass to get around.
Rory Goldring, Watch Commander at Belfast City Airport Fire Service, has been taking on the role for the past five years and said it gives him a lot of joy to bring a smile to people's faces at this time of year.
He said: "When the choirs come in, the kids are all singing and then Jingle Bells comes on and that's when I come out. You're ringing the bell, and you can see the buzz amongst the kids in the choir, their wee eyes are bright looking up and seeing Santa.
"When everyone's coming home for Christmas, it's nice for Santa to be there to greet them. It's great to see the interaction between the families. It's a great atmosphere about the airport during the Christmas period.
"Going into the main terminal and even just interacting with the staff is brilliant. When you're in this get-up as Santa, even talking to adults it just changes their whole demeanor, when you're having a bit of craic and telling them they're on the naughty list - it's all a bit of fun. You get the slagging until around the middle of January then it keels off before starting up again!"
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