Good morning ladies - I have a couple of questions that I just wanted to get some feedback from other caregivers on....

I would like to take (almost) 2 weeks off this year at Xmas. The way that Xmas falls this year, it means I am asking parents to use up 6 of their own vacation days to cover this block of time. I am not charging parents for these two weeks. My contract states that if I am not caring for your child, then you don't have to pay me. I'm also lucky in that two of my parents are Mum's who have just returned to work - so they have a whole year's worth of holiday time banked - no problems for them in terms of being able to manage the time off. Another client is going to visit family out of town for those two weeks - so again, no conflicts there. =) The fly in the ointment is this one client. She's just started a new job and she isn't terribly happy about my taking two weeks off. While I am sympathetic to her position, she does have a husband who could hold the fort with the kids if she's not able to get the time off, and her Mum lives with her (another source of help) How much time do you ladies typically take off - both at Christmas and during the course of a year ? Any suggestions on how to gracefully get through this, without having to work through Xmas ? I really don't want to be tied to the house and have to get up every morning - especially for just one kid !