Featured Image Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump has just declared a brand new national holiday for all US citizens.
While we might be all suffering from the post-Christmas come-down right now, the president has revealed a new national holiday that could help us all beat the blues.
This comes after federal offices were closed for a very rare five-day weekend.
The executive order was signed by Trump last week and means that executive departments and agencies will be closed on both Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas.
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This new order will apply to the executive branch of the federal government.
In the order, it stated: “All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Wednesday, December 24, 2025, and Friday, December 26, 2025, the day before and the day following Christmas Day, respectively.
“The heads of executive departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 24, 2025, or December 26, 2025, or both, for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need.
“December 24, 2025, and December 26, 2025, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States.”
So, which businesses will this actually impact? It turns out that the most affected services will be in government offices including the IRS, passport offices and Social Security Administration field offices.
However, other businesses, such as the US postal service, will remain open despite the closures.
This is due to the fact that it is mainly funded through postage sales and is therefore not bound to federal closures in the same way as other departments.
Private mail carriers like UPS and FedEx will also be up and running today.
The financial sector is also open for business including the likes of New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq after being closed on Christmas Day.
But what does that mean for banks? It turns out that major banks will be up and running but some of the smaller banks and credit unions have chosen to comply with the order, which may mean you’ll have to wait until Monday, depending who you bank with.
Meanwhile, stores will certainly be opening their doors today and are expected to see one of the busiest days of shopping of the year as people hit the post-Christmas sales.
