2006 was a great year. Sadly, it won't be repeated until 2017.
There are seven "calendar templates": one where the year starts on a Sun., one where it starts on a Mon., etc. And last year's was the best of the bunch.
What's the criteria? The layout of the holidays that are not pre-assigned to Mondays -- which, specifically means July 4th, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
In 2006, we had July 4th on a Tuesday, ensuring it was a 4-day weekend instead of a 3-day holiday. (That works great for our annual July 4th vacation to San Diego). Thanksgiving landed on the second-to-earliest date possible for that holiday, which means a longer Christmas season (I like having a week before Dec. 1 to get ready for the holidays so that all is in order when the calendar flips to the last month of the year). And Christmas was on a Monday, which is simply the best day for Christmas as you get a spiritual Christmas Eve by attending Church on Sunday, and then since I get two days off for Christmas, you have the day after Christmas to recover before going back to work.
Christmas is on Tuesday in 2007, which is pretty good, but July 4th is a Wednesday, which is just a lousy day for a holiday, so that impacts the year's overall rating.
Fortunately, leap year means we skip having Christmas on a Wednesday in 2008 (which would have occurred sans leap year). That's good as Wednesday Christmases don't work well. But leap year means we have another Sunday Christmas in 2011 and then skip to a Tuesday Christmas in 2012.
So when we bid adieu to 2006, we bid adieu to Monday Christmases for 11 years. Bah Humbug!
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6 comments:
I like your new blog. I think it's very clever. Can't wait to read more!
I, too, have been looking forward to this blog. I actually spent a good deal of time one or two nights searching the internet to see if I could find your blog, only to find that you didn't have one. I am glad that it is finally up and running. Do we always have to wait a full week for new content?
How much time did you spend looking at calendars to come up with this material? Are you a "calendar" junkie? (Similar to a "map" junkie - someone who just likes looking at maps. Same concept.)
I must disagree with you Mark. Obviously the 4th of July thing is a Mark Newman preference based on your typical vacation, but for us normal people, 2007 holiday season offers a lot of potential. Next year I get a 4 day weekend for Christmas and a 3.5 day weekend for New Years. That is allowing me to take a full two week vacation to Utah and only use 6.5 vacation days. That's huge! I'm looking at 2007 as the best calendar year for holidays.
Steve
Mark, you are just too complicated for me but I do love reading what you write!
i hear you there, mark
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