I’m blessed to have major holidays off of work now. There was a time — during my past life working in local TV news — when this was not the case.
After more than 20-some years of spending Thanksgiving with family, working on one was weird the first time.
“This is supposed to be a special day, not a work day”.
Once you’ve worked that first one, with many of the story assignments being about other people eating their Thanksgiving meal and you know that you’re just going home and eating a frozen pizza, the weirdness wears off very quickly.
After a few years, working on a holiday becomes normal. You get to a point where you look forward to the holiday pay versus all of the usual holiday blessings.
Also after a few years, some resentment can set in — especially on Thanksgiving.
You see a flood of Facebook posts that all say “I’m thankful for friends and family” and picture after picture of tables overloaded with food that you know won’t all get eaten.
Meantime, you’re at your desk, drinking a bottle of soda from the vending machine and eating microwave popcorn while the Packers-Lions game plays on one of the TVs in the background.
Happy holidays, indeed.
Ah, but you chose this life, right? You’re apparently so important and so needed that you need to be working on a holiday.
I moved on from that life.
Many can’t. Many don’t. Many won’t.
What and who is really important
Many people do legitimately have to work on holidays.
Hospitals don’t close until 5 a.m. on Black Friday. Fire departments don’t put a sign on the door that says “Be back soon” with a movable-armed clock on it. I haven’t forgotten about you priests either. Duty calls.
In our diocese, we’re trying to make Sunday the most important day of the week again, which should also include not working on it. What’s a few more days to get holidays off as well?
Was TV really that important that my former co-workers and I had to come in? I do recall a viewer flipping out once on social media that there wasn’t a morning show one 4th of July. If memory serves, the comment was part scolding and part poking fun at the fact that people might actually get a day off every now and then.
I put those shows together for many years; trust me, you can live without one here and there.
If you want (or wanted, if you’re reading this after Thanksgiving) to be thankful for something, be thankful for the people who might have had to work on a holiday to make yours something to be grateful for.
Let’s also not forget those who really have nothing else to do and so they don’t mind working on a holiday, or even being outside in the cold waiting to get a deal on a big-screen TV.
Remember when Black Friday was a Christmas shopping thing and not a “ooo, shiny deal!” thing?
There are many bosses and employees that could answer “yes” to this, but really ask yourself, “Do I NEED to work on a holiday?”
Making the most of a day off
Maybe you’re fortunate and get Thanksgiving off. Maybe you also get Christmas, New Year’s, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Good Friday off.
Now what? Sleep in? Always a good idea. Who of us sleeps enough anyway? Make a nice meal? Also a valid use of a day off. See friends and family? Great idea as long as they aren’t busy with something else.
Go to Mass? . . . “On Thanksgiving? But, that’s not a Holy Day.” (For those who think it is, um, shhhh, yes, go to Mass on Thanksgiving!).
Avoid unnecessary work? That’s a really good idea. Holidays should be for relaxing. Get shopping and other things done before the holiday so you have less to do on that day? I like that idea. Pray more since you have time? “Wait a minute . . . this sounds like Sunday.” Uh-huh. Excellent practice for Sunday. Sunday, the day of the Resurrection, is even greater than most other holidays (Christmas and Easter notwithstanding, but Easter is the greatest of all).
You don’t need to make a big turkey dinner every Sunday. though.
Take care of yourself
Again, for those who really, truly need to work on holidays and Sundays, may God bless what you do. May you be blessed with the time and energy to still celebrate in some manner.
For those who get to holiday it up, do it right. Make the most of the gift you’ve been given.
Don’t pressure yourself with the “best [blank] day ever,” just be your best you on those days.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.