Time Off at Christmas - How Much is Reasonable ?

[sunnydays]

Last year I was only closed for the stats, but this year I added Christmas eve into my contract paid, and since that falls on a Tuesday, I am taking a paid vacation day for the Monday and another paid vacation day for the 31st, since I am closed on the 1st...this way I actually get some good chunks of rest time and it limits the amount of days I am open when my 4 year old is home from school as things get a bit crazy when he is here I told all my clients this in September, so they are all fine with it. Last year I stayed open thinking that probably most if not all clients would take some of those days off to stay home with family...but it didn't happen and I felt tired and burnt out...not this time!

[cfred]

I have in my contract that parents get at least 4 months notice before I take holidays for 7-10 days. For 2 weeks off, they get 6 months and for anything over that, a year. This gives them plenty of time to sort out their childcare. While I'd love to take the same period off every year, I also love to travel and do so according to cheaper airfares. Currently, my fav trip is camping in Culebra, Puerto Rico, so for 3 yrs now, I've taken roughly the same time frame to land in with mainly other backpackers, but that could change should I find another little island that tickles my fancy. Really, with enough notice, parents should be totally fine with figuring out back up. Everyone seems to have a different way to handle vacation time and all of them sound perfectly reasonable. Do what works best for your family.....and your sanity

[Skysue]

Last year I was only closed for the stats, but this year I added Christmas eve into my contract paid, and since that falls on a Tuesday, I am taking a paid vacation day for the Monday and another paid vacation day for the 31st, since I am closed on the 1st...this way I actually get some good chunks of rest time and it limits the amount of days I am open when my 4 year old is home from school as things get a bit crazy when he is here I told all my clients this in September, so they are all fine with it. Last year I stayed open thinking that probably most if not all clients would take some of those days off to stay home with family...but it didn't happen and I felt tired and burnt out...not this time!

Sunnydays when I was reading your post I asked myself did I right this? Dido to everything you said. This way we get 2 nice long weekends to relax, one a 5 day long weekend and the other a 4 day long weekend. I had a parent show up last year the day after boxing day not realizing it was a Stat she woke up my whole family. Totally uncool, this year I let all parents know in Sept and trust me there will be a reminder Dec 1st LOL.