Holidays / Vacations in the US

A holiday isn't a time off work - it's a special day. Mother's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc are all holidays. Even if you go to work.

Mother's day isn't the same day as the UK, but you'll have problems missing it.

Halloween is big on trick or treating (obviously). When it comes to halloween, the rule is that if you have your porch light on, you'll be expected to give out candy. If you're after candy, go to the houses which have their porch lights on. People dress up at halloween, but you are allowed to dress up as anything you like - it doesn't need to be halloween related, as long as you are dressed up. People often dress up at work, again, it doesn't matter what you dress up as.

Thanksgiving is a big thing - it's a 2 day event, making 4 days of festivity. People traditionally go home to their families, causing all kinds of travel chaos around that time. Avoid going on any road trips, or airports, around that weekend. The nice thing about thanksgiving is that no one needs to worry about 'the real meaning of thanksgiving'. The real meaning of thanksgiving is to sit around, eat, drink and (possibly) watch (American) football on the TV. Which leads to ..

Christmas is a much smaller thing than in the UK. My theory is that this is partly because of thanksgiving. You've just had a holiday which involves sitting around eating, drinking and seeing family, so it feels strange to have another devoted to the same thing - particularly when there is more religious belief amongst christians (who might need to worry about the true meaning of Christmas) and more non-Christians, who don't worry about Christmas. Boxing Day doesn't exist, and it's not a holiday. You go back to work on the 26th. Places don't close much at Christmas - you can go to the movies, lifeguards work at the beaches (I know this, because we were admonished by a lifeguard for being on the beach after dark, when it was supposed to be closed.)

As in the UK, there are a few other days scattered around where you don't go to work. The complication is that some of these are 'federal' holidays, which anyone who works for the government gets off - that means no post, no school, etc, on those days. But everyone else has to go to work.

Here's a list:

1st Jan: New Year's Day.

3rd Monday in January: Martin Luther King day (Federal holiday)

3rd Monday in February: President's Day (Federal, I think)

Last monday in May: Memorial Day

First monday in September: Labor Day

2nd Monday in October: Columbus Day (Federal)

November 11th: Veteran's Day (Federal)

4th Thursday in November: Thanksgiving

25th December: Christmas day