Does The US Celebrate A Long Break Like Australia By John Phanchalad?
In australia we normally take a break from christmas eve through to atleast the day after christmas day, this includes most businesses unless they are retail. Is this same as for the US? - By John Phanchalad
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Are you talking about break from work and/or school? Here, the stores start showing their Christmas merchandise around the end of Halloween. It used to be after Thanksgiving (the last Thursday in November), but it seems to start earlier every year.
Decorations traditionally go up on Thanksgiving weekend. Since it is becoming more secular, the Government decorations consist of wreaths, tinsel, lights and decorated trees. Target (a chain store) this year lost their mind and put up lime green and yellow whatevers. Our houses are loaded with lights, mostly inside, but more and more outside. People drive up and down the neighborhood streets looking at their neighbors decorations.
Depending on the industry or business, some people work through the last two weeks of December, just taking Christmas and New Years days off. There are parties all through the month. Lockheed gives it's employees the last two weeks off with pay - lucky ducks. Most government offices are open and work gets done, but it's very lax during those two weeks. Our Congress goes home. If people can wrangle it, they use vacation time and take time off for the whole two weeks, especially if the days (Christmas and New Years) fall on a Monday or Friday.
The schools are closed during those two weeks and traffic is very light.
The stores, on the otherhand, are a marathon. Some of them are open 24 hours now the week before Christmas. Even restaurants, which used to close on Christmas are open. Nice because I don't cook. After Christmas, it's pretty back to regular hours,all the extra help is gone and we are told that all merchandice is on sale. A lot of it is.
The first Monday of the new year, everything is pretty much back to normal.