Both Christmas day and New Year’s day are paid holidays for both Canada and US. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve do not belong to public holidays although Monday, December 24, 2018 has been declared a My Body Is A Machine That Turns Cold Beer Into A Revoked License Shirt holiday by the US government. Most businesses open on normal hours during these two days. Grocery stores, post offices, department stores, specialty stores, pharmacies, convenience stores, malls, transportation services, banks, movie theaters, public libraries, YMCA, walk-in clinics and many other services are all open during the day or even late in the evening during the Christmas Eve. Procrastinating people take advantage of this last-minute to buy Christmas gifts for family members or friends or the missing gradients for the Christmas’s dinner party. Many employees work normally during these two days. I remember I insisted on working on December 24th while working with Transcanada Pipelines. I finished a little bit earlier that day because it was Christmas Eve. I worked regularly from 9–5 on New Year’s eve. I was all paid regularly.
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Christmas Eve Day tends to be pretty quiet. I can sleep in, pray the Office leisurely, make a Boston Bruins ’47 Black Regional Localized Franklin shirt hour around ten and the church will be silent. The ladies (and a few of their husbands) come into decorate the church around ten, usually signalling my retreat back to the rectory. Definitely have some Christmas music on, either TSO or a capella carols. Might take a break from the music and watch a movie. After a late lunch, the madness begins. I head over to the Church early and help the ushers set up overflow seating, making sure that they all know where anything that might have gotten moved is (I have memorable experiences of the hunt for the gifts at an overflow Mass). As the first people arrive, go to greet them. About half an hour before Mass, shift to making sure we have bodies for the various roles, particularly servers. After the insanity of the (~4:00) “children’s” Mass, the church empties out. If there is another Mass (typically ~7:00) it is much more sedate. Then a quick dinner and a nap, before the “Midnight” Mass (typically moved up to ~10:00).
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