First, I’d like to note that a great many people work on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and a number of other religious or secular holidays that some of us take for granted. Emergency services personnel, hospital staff, gas station attendants, some grocery store employees, toll booth workers, televisions and radio production staff, the little elves that turn the knobs to make the internet go… The list goes on. A lot of people don’t celebrate Christmas, and a lot of people don’t have a choice — you don’t have to wish them all a Merry Christmas, but a nice big smile wouldn’t hurt.

Onward…

Top 10 Reasons Working on Christmas Eve Doesn’t Suck

1. Unless you work for Scrooge & Marley, you probably don’t have to work a full day. Even the post office closes at noon, even though it’s the most biz-busiest time of the year.

2. Very few people are in the office.

3. The people who are in the office are more likely to have brought in baked goods.

4. There are fewer people around to notice or care if you play some Christmas carols at your desk.

5. No one really expects you to accomplish anything, unless you’re a senator.

6. If you do accomplish something, you look like a freaking rockstar (unless you’re a senator caught between a rock and health care reform).

7. In my office, Friday Casual (jeans!) is in effect from December 24-31.

8. All the people who took the day off are not commuting and not making your phone ring.

9. Per #1, you can probably get out before the holiday travel and shopping traffic is in full effect. (Nothing [NOTHING] makes me crankier than the holiday traffic in Tysons Corner. Nothing. It should not take 40 minutes to go half a mile.)

10. There are no lines for the microwave at lunchtime.