Countdowns
How many days until Christmas 2026?
The clock runs to midnight on December 25 where you are. Switch the year to see Christmas 2027 or 2028, or pick another holiday.
Christmas Day 2026
58 days
| Date | Friday, December 25, 2026 |
| Weeks | 8 weeks, 2 days |
| Weekends before it | 8 |
| Business days (federal holidays off) | 39 |
| Christmas Day 2026 | Friday, December 25, 2026 |
| Christmas Day 2027 | Saturday, December 25, 2027 |
| Christmas Day 2028 | Monday, December 25, 2028 |
Christmas Day is fixed on December 25, so only its weekday moves: it falls on Friday, December 25, 2026, then on Saturday, December 25, 2027 and on Monday, December 25, 2028. The countdown above counts down to midnight at the very start of that day in your own time zone, which your browser gives to the page without sending it anywhere, so New York reaches zero three hours before Los Angeles. Under it you get the number of full weekends left, the Saturdays and Sundays, and the business days, leaving out Thanksgiving and any other federal holiday on the way. Christmas is one of the eleven federal holidays listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103. In 2026 it is a Friday, so federal offices, banks, the stock market and post offices all close that Friday, and the weekend runs three days. In 2027 it is a Saturday: federal workers get Friday, December 24 off, the stock market closes that Friday too, but banks following the Federal Reserve calendar stay open.
Weekends left before Christmas
Full weekends before Christmas
8
| Christmas Day | Friday, December 25, 2026 |
| Days to go | 58 |
| Saturdays and Sundays | 16 |
| Business days | 39 |
Dates computed and checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Christmas Day on the calendar, 2026 to 2030
December 25 moves forward one weekday each year and two after a leap year. That small shift changes the shape of the holidays: a Friday or a Monday gives a long weekend to almost everyone, a Saturday or a Sunday moves the day off for federal workers and splits the closures between organizations.
| Year | Christmas Day | Federal day off | Banks (Federal Reserve) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Fri, Dec 25 | Fri, Dec 25 | Fri, Dec 25 |
| 2027 | Sat, Dec 25 | Fri, Dec 24 | open Friday, closed Saturday |
| 2028 | Mon, Dec 25 | Mon, Dec 25 | Mon, Dec 25 |
| 2029 | Tue, Dec 25 | Tue, Dec 25 | Tue, Dec 25 |
| 2030 | Wed, Dec 25 | Wed, Dec 25 | Wed, Dec 25 |
The pattern repeats on a 28-year cycle as long as no century year breaks the leap-year rhythm, which will not happen before 2100. Christmas 2026 has the same weekday layout as 2037, and Christmas 2027 as 2032.
How the countdown is worked out
The page knows the date of Christmas for any year, so it never needs updating. When it loads, it reads today's date and your time zone from your browser, then counts the whole days to December 25 and ticks the hours, minutes and seconds left until local midnight. Once Christmas is over, the clock moves on to the next one by itself. The weekends line counts the Saturday and Sunday pairs that fall entirely before Christmas; the business days line counts Monday to Friday up to and including Christmas Eve, without the federal holidays observed on the way, which in late October means Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.
The mini-tool under the summary does the same count from any starting date: useful to plan a delivery, a project milestone or simply the number of Saturdays left for shopping.
What is open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
Christmas Day closes nearly everything that follows a federal calendar. Post offices close and there is no regular mail delivery or collection, because Christmas is one of the six holidays the Postal Service treats as widely observed. Banks close because the Federal Reserve Banks do not process payments. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq close for the full day.
Christmas Eve is different. It is not a legal holiday, so federal offices open unless the President grants an extra day off by executive order, as happened on December 24, 2025. The stock market closes early, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time, when December 24 is a weekday. Post offices usually open with normal hours and may close early locally. The Christmas Eve page gives the details for 2026 and 2027.
Post offices (retail counters), Thursday, December 24, 2026
Open
normal day
| Mail deliveryRegular delivery | Yes |
| Blue collection boxesNormal collection times | Collected |
| Banks (Federal Reserve calendar)business day | Open |
| Stock market (NYSE, Nasdaq)early close at 1:00 p.m. ET | Open, closes early |
| Federal officesregular workday | Open |
Mailing before Christmas
The Postal Service publishes recommended send-by dates each autumn. For 2026, its list gives Thursday, December 17, 2026 for USPS Ground Advantage and First-Class Mail, Friday, December 18, 2026 for Priority Mail and Saturday, December 19, 2026 for Priority Mail Express, for delivery within the contiguous United States. Earlier dates apply to Alaska, Hawaii and military mail overseas. Private carriers set their own cut-offs, which this site does not list because they change from year to year without an official text.
For anything sent in the last week, count business days rather than calendar days: the business days counter removes weekends and federal holidays so that a two- or three-day service can be checked against the calendar.
Why Christmas is a federal holiday
Congress made Christmas a holiday for federal workers in the District of Columbia in 1870, in the same act that created New Year's Day, Independence Day and Thanksgiving holidays. It is listed today in section 6103 of title 5 alongside the ten others. That statute covers federal employees only: no federal law obliges private employers to give the day off or to pay a premium for working it, although most do through their own policies or union contracts. States have their own lists, and all of them include Christmas.