Holidaze

There are plenty of holidays this time of year, both the ordinary ones and, for us, the New Zealand public holidays. This leads to a problem: The most common thought I have this time of year is, “What day is it?”

We have four public holidays this time of year: Christmas Day, Boxing Day (December 26), New Year’s Day and the day after New Year’s Day (January 2). If any one of them falls on a weekend, the observed public holiday is held the next weekday. It’s one thing to have disruptions in routines two weeks in a row, but throw in movable public holidays and my confusion is compounded.

For New Year this year, New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday, but January 2 fell on a Monday (today). So, the public holiday for January 2 was held today, as expected, BUT New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday this year, so the public holiday will be held tomorrow, January 3. There’s even more to confuse me this season.

Christmas Day fell on a Sunday this year, and Boxing Day fell on a Monday, when it was observed, so the Christmas Day public holiday was observed on Tuesday, December 27. That's just like what's happening this week, except for one thing: There’s a trading ban in place on Christmas Day, and that doesn’t move (trading bans require most businesses to be closed, but some can open, especially in tourist areas—the rules are weird. such as, there are no TV commercials allowed, though programme promo ads are okay).

The effect of all this is that we get two four-day weekends in a row most years, but that could mean Thursday through Sunday, Friday through Monday, or Saturday through Tuesday (this year), and next year it’ll also be Saturday through Tuesday because Christmas Day and Boxing Day will be Monday and Tuesday the end of this year, as will January 1 and 2, 2024. There will be no four day weekends for Christmas 2024 and New Year 2025 because 2024 is a Leap Year.

Is it any wonder why this time of year I can’t remember what day it is?!

Figuring annual leave (vacation) into this mix makes it more complicated still, but I’ll leave that out of this—my head hurts too much already. I can’t turn to my favourite TV shows to pass the time, either, because most of them take a hiatus between roughly mid-December and mid-January (some take a longer break…).

What all of this collectively means is that the markers I might normally have for time/days of the week—everything from people’s daily routines, shop hours, what service businesses are open, and even television—is disrupted and unpredictable. This time of year I have to make a point of looking at the day and date on my watch and devices to have any hope of knowing when I am.

On the other hand, it’s also possible to get lost in the laissez faire, lazy fair, nothingness of this time of year, or, at least, that used to happen to me when Nigel was alive—it’s only fun when it’s shared with someone else. Without a companion, this time of year is just a confusing intermission from time itself, right up until it inevitably comes crashing into the house again, knocking over furniture and spilling drinks on the carpet, just to remind us that normal time is resuming.

Or, so it seems. Me, I just spend this time of year constantly asking myself, “What day is it?”