Holidays that aren't

Federal holidays are a strange breed.  Especially if you work for (or with as is my case) the U.S. Federal government, there is a difference between the holiday and the celebration.  The obvious examples are some of our Monday holidays: Martin Luther King's Birthday in January, President's Day in February, Columbus Day in October.  All are celebrated on a Monday with rules as to which Monday, second Monday, Monday closest before, etc.  Some holidays are Mondays (Memorial Day and Labor Day) and some holidays are celebrated on the actual date: Independence Day on July 4th, Veteran's Day on November 11, Christmas Day on December 25, and New Year's Day on January 1.

But wait, what if you are a Monday to Friday employee and one of these "date" holidays falls on Saturday or Sunday?  Are you out of luck?  Of course not.  There are rules for that too.  A Saturday holiday gets you a day off on the previous Friday and a Sunday holiday gets you a day off on the following Monday.  A three-day weekend ensues.  Everyone is happy.  

Except if you are an observant Jew, and it is one of the winter holidays.  then, if the day falls on Saturday, as Christmas and New Years do this year, the holiday is a non-starter.  The Sabbath starts very early in the winter (4:30 or so).  By the time you have cooked or baked all the things you can't normally cook or bake because you go to work, there isn't much of the day left.  

I suppose if I had been motivated today, I could have got up and got moving, but somehow, all I managed to do was prepare for Shabbat, bake challah, make chicken soup, and write this blog post.  

Shabbat Shalom...