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Jen Thompson just graduated in May 2007 with a degree in math and a double minor in finance and econ. She works for BNY Mellon and is currently questioning if she should go back to school part-time for her finance MBA or business education (secondary) so she can teach business, coach and have summers off!
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Unlike the previous 23 years of my existence, I now have a responsible adult job requiring that responsible adult in me to work throughout the holidays. No more weeks off for Thanksgiving and forget the month free at Christmas –- I’m now in the middle of a grand total of 4.5 days off between Thanksgiving and New Years Eve.
I was off Thanksgiving Day. After that it’s working Christmas Eve, off for Christmas day, then back to the grind on the 26th. Nothing says bah-humbug like leaving the Christmas dinner festivities early so I can get some sleep for work. Off New Year’s Eve? Forget about it — more the tune of getting up at 5:30 a.m. and trying to make it to midnight.
So what’s a Millennial to do? Seriously, the only thing we know is too much vacation time for any holiday and the sudden lack of it might make us feel a little bit violated and/or Grinch-like. Taking vacation time can be tricky as most of us are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to picking days off. So it got me thinking…how can I make the most of the situation and still have a happy holiday?
Since most of the country has taken time off recently, leaving me sitting and staring at a computer all day with not much to do, I brainstormed some ideas to get myself in the holiday mood, deal with the lack of days off and plan ahead for next year.
1. Use Tuesday or Thursday holidays to your advantage and make them into long weekends.
2. If you work near stores use your lunch break to get some shopping done or shop for yourself and take advantage of the sales.
3. Peppermint hot chocolate…instant holiday mood!
4. Listen to Christmas music at work. Most cities have a radio station that plays Christmas music 24/7 starting around Thanksgiving. If not, check out internet radio stations…there’s bound to be a holiday station somewhere.
5. If you drive home while it’s dark out, make some detours to see some decorated houses.
6. Own at least one holiday-ish movie. Watch it often. Some good examples: Grinch, Charlie Brown’s Christmas, The Holiday, Polar Express, Love Actually or Elf.
7. Go to any Christmas party you are invited too, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Unless it’s one of those ugly holiday sweater parties. Then you can skip it.
8. Take advantage of the downtime and catch up on projects.
9. If you live in a cold area, use your weekends to go ice skating, skiing or just to build a snowman.
10. Look around your office or building and see if there is any sort of toy drive and donate at least one item…plus going through the toy aisles of stores brings out anyone’s inner kid!
11. Send Christmas cards to all your closest friends.
12. Enjoy the season and don’t be a Grinch!
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Jen, I’m right there with ya. I’ll probably be the only schmuck in my office all this week!. Good thing I used my “vacation” time to do the laundry and load the dishwasher.
Most of my colleagues have taken Thursday and Friday off this week because they didn’t see the point in coming to work for those two days only to take off another 4 more days for the New Year’s holiday. I don’t blame them one bit. I, however, can’t afford to make it all the way home for Christmas, so I hung around town and am not taking those two days off. I plan on having some super fun productive time with absolutely no interruptions. I don’t plan on answering my phone, and I doubt I’ll be doing much emailing. My goal for the next two days is to plan out the next semester of work (I work for a university, so the year is divided all nicely for me). Might as well take advantage of not having anyone bother me for two whole days!
A few year’s back, I received a self-published book titled “A Partridge in a Pear Tree” (think of it as the back story behind the 12 Days of Christmas) during an office gift exchange. Long story short, I started reading an excerpt each week to anyone on the staff who cared to listen and today it has turned into a pretty cool tradition. Plus, it might have opened up a whole new career path of “books on CD” for me.