President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Dec. 18, giving some extra time off to federal workers around the upcoming holidays.
Trump declared Christmas Eve and Dec. 26 as federal holidays, extending the existing federal holiday on Christmas Day into an extra-long weekend.
While many private businesses observe federal holidays with paid time off for employees, they are not required to do so. That means Trump’s newly declared upcoming holidays are only applicable to departments and agencies within the federal government.
Here is what to know about Trump’s most recent holiday order:
Yes, but only for federal workers this year.
Some employees may still have to report to work, at the discretion of agency leaders, according to Trump’s order. Private businesses can decide to give their employees time off, but they are not obligated to by law.
Yes, but only for federal workers this year. To designate a day as a federal holiday in perpetuity, legislation must pass through Congress and be signed into law by the president. This was last done when Juneteenth was added in 2021 under the Biden administration.
It’s not entirely uncommon for presidents to issue temporary holiday orders, especially around the winter celebrations. In 2014, President Barack Obama declared Dec. 26, which landed on a Friday ‒ the same as it does this year ‒ a federal holiday. Trump did the same for Christmas Eve during his first term in 2019 and 2020.
While federal government offices may close their doors the days before and after Christmas this year, locations like banks, post offices and private retailers will largely remain open.
U.S. Postal Service post offices will be closed, and mail will not be delivered on Christmas Day, according to the agency’s website. Post offices will be open for retail transactions on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26, and mail will be delivered on those days.
According to the Federal Reserve, banks will follow the typical schedule of being open for business on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26 and closed on Christmas Day.
Major private retailers, such as Target, Walmart and Costco, are by and large following the traditional rule of only closing on Dec. 25. Target stores will be open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day. The stores will reopen for normal hours on Friday, Dec. 26. Similarly, Walmart stores, Costco and other private businesses will be closed on Christmas Day.
Trump has bemoaned how many paid holidays there are in the United States.
“We already have too many Holidays in America,” he wrote in a May 5 Truth Social post when proclaiming celebratory, but working, holidays to honor World War I and World War II. “There are not enough days left in the year. We were Workers then, and we are Workers now!”
Also on Juneteenth, Trump said the United States has “too many non-working holidays.”
“It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed,” Trump posted on Truth Social on June 19. “The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year.”
There are 12 federal holidays in 2025 (two of them were on the same day). He has issued new holiday proclamations like Victory Day for World War II on May 8, Victory Day for World War I on Nov. 11 (though that day is already federally recognized as Veterans Day), and Gulf of America Day on Feb. 9.
Contributing: Marina Pitofsky and Francesca Chambers
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at KCrowley@usatodayco.com. Follow her onX (Twitter),Bluesky andTikTok.