Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is a traditional time of early celebration of Christmas, with religious services or gatherings and communications with family and friends.
Church services are common in many churches, notably "midnight Mass" which is observed by some (but not all) Catholic parishes. Services are sometimes held prior to midnight to accommodate travelers. Frequently a candlelight service is part of the observance.
It is not an officially observed Federal holiday; however, at times the President of the United States will declare that day (or at least four hours of it[1]) as a Federal holiday. Usually, this takes place when Christmas Day does not fall on a weekend, since when Christmas Day falls on a Saturday, the preceding Friday -- which is Christmas Eve -- is the observed holiday date, and when it falls on a Sunday, Saturday (Christmas Eve) is already a day off for most Federal employees (and the following Monday, December 26, is the observed Christmas Day holiday).
References
- ↑ Under Federal law, employees are only granted eight hours holiday pay for a holiday, if half a day is declared only four hours is paid.
