Friday the 2nd of January always is a day and date which is a bit queer. [Being Nova Scotian, this does not imply anything other than the phrase "queerer than me arse". I trust that has clarified matters.]   The different years play out the Yuletide holidays differently, especially distruptive for those who choose not to block off a chunk to time now using up vacation days.

• Ideal is the configuration of the days which sees a Friday the 24th of December. It creates in Canada a block of time off of eleven days from Friday at noon to Tuesday the 4th of January with one single two and a half day working period in the middle from Wednesday the 29th to noon on New Year's Eve. Enough time to actually get some quiet work done, not so much that you you feel a disruption to the general slack nature of the holidays.
• The worst configuration is when the 24th hits on a Tuesday which see you back at work for one day on the 27th and a day and a half on the 30th and 31st. Only one weekend involved as well so over 14 days you have five short chunks of no work from the 20th of December to the 6th of January.

You would think that the early Christians, the Romans and the Germanic pagans would have gotten together on this with me more in mind.