I'm off today, so if you are reading this on Christmas Eve, welcome to the world of automation. 

If you're working today, I suspect it's going to be a light productivity day for you.  So, you may as well dig into the details about what workers across the country receive in the way of official paid holidays.  From AL.com, examining the 13 official holidays in the state of Alabama:

"The Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, released in August, said the average number of paid holidays per year, for private-sector workers who get paid holidays, was seven in businesses with 99 or fewer workers and nine in larger businesses. The survey said 12 percent of full-time workers in the private sector don't get paid holidays."

Not really sure what to make of the numbers, since comparing one staple of Paid Time Off (with the other components being vacation, personal day and sick time as well as official holidays) is basically useless.

For example, I thought for a split second about getting on my high horse regarding Alabama actually granting some workers Fat Tuesday (that's Mardi Gras parade day for you teetotalers), but then I reconsidered.  After all, the State of Alabama has 13 paid holidays, which sounds like a lot, but I don't know if they grant any personal days.  If I add up my company's official holidays (7) and personal days (7), I have 14 days, half of which I can take when I need them.

If the state workers in Alabama have 13 paid holidays but no personal days and vacation and sick time schedules are comparable, I have a better benefit.  I can use half of the holiday/personal days when I want to.   So I got that going for me, which is nice (hat tip to Bill Murray in Caddyshack).

If you're working, here's hoping you're out of there by at least 2pm.  Merry Christmas.