Just two weeks after he declared Americans are saying “Merry Christmas” again, President Donald Trump rang in the holidays with two new federal days off this year: Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas.
The early Christmas gift for federal employees comes by way of executive order and follows what was the longest shutdown in the history of the U.S. government.
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It is fairly unusual for a president to give government workers both the 24th and 26th off, though some of Trump’s predecessors have occasionally given employees Christmas Eve off. For example, last year, then-President Joe Biden declared the day before Christmas a federal holiday, but he did not do the same in 2023. In both 2019 and 2020, Trump, who was commander-in-chief at the time, declared Christmas Eve a holiday.
Prior to this season, former President Barack Obama was the last commander-in-chief to give federal staffers a holiday the day after Christmas.
It’s worth noting Trump’s executive order allows agency executives to determine which offices of their organizations need to remain open on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas for “reasons of national security, defense, and other public need.”
The executive order applies only to 2025.
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