Christmas Eve falls on a Monday this year, so President Bush has ordered the federal government to close on Dec. 24., giving most federal employees an extra long weekend for the holiday.

Many feds may be left out of the sweet deal, though: Bush’s executive order states that department heads may order some employees to report to work on Dec. 24 “for reasons of national security or defense or other public need.” Plus pretty much every postal worker will have to work that Monday, making them even more bitter than usual.

Since many people have already made travel plans for Christmas, the effect of the declaration for a lot of federal employees likely only means they won’t have to use up a vacation day for a day they were not planning on working anyway.

Photo by flipperman75