December holidays include Hanukkah, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve, plus observances such as St. Nicholas Day, St. Lucia’s Day, Las Posadas and the winter solstice festivals of Dongzhi and Yalda. The dates and the days people take off vary by country and tradition, so a team that spans several countries plans December country by country, not around December 25 alone.
At a previous job, I booked my team’s year-end planning call for the Monday after Christmas. I’d checked December 25 and stopped there. That year Boxing Day fell on a Saturday, so the UK office had the Monday off, and my one colleague in London accepted the invite with a note: “Happy to join. Should I bring the leftover turkey?” I moved the call. Twice, as it turned out.
On most company calendars, December looks like one holiday. On a team that spans a few countries and traditions, it’s closer to a dozen, and they don’t all land on the 25th. Here’s what each one is, when it falls in 2026, and how to plan work and thank-yous around them.
The main December holidays are Hanukkah, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve, and several smaller observances fill the weeks between them. Some are public holidays with offices closed, and others are personal or community celebrations that happen around a normal working week.
| Holiday | 2026 dates | Where it’s widely observed |
|---|---|---|
| Hanukkah | Sundown December 4 to nightfall December 12 | Jewish communities worldwide |
| St. Nicholas Day | December 6 (the evening of December 5 in some countries) | The Low Countries and German-speaking areas |
| St. Lucia’s Day | December 13 | Sweden, Norway, Swedish-speaking Finland and Italy |
| Las Posadas | December 16 to 24 | Mexico, Central America and parts of the US |
| Winter solstice festivals | December 21 or 22 | Dongzhi in China, Yalda in Iran |
| Christmas | December 24 (Eve) and December 25 | Worldwide; a US federal holiday |
| Boxing Day | December 26 (UK bank holiday on December 28) | The UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand |
| Kwanzaa | December 26 to January 1 | Mainly the US, plus Canada and the Caribbean |
| New Year’s Eve | December 31 | Worldwide, including Hogmanay in Scotland |
Hanukkah in 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, December 4, and ends at nightfall on Saturday, December 12, according to Hebcal’s calendar. The eight-day Jewish festival recalls the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and it follows the Hebrew calendar, so its Gregorian dates move each year anywhere from late November to late December.
Each evening, families light one more candle on a nine-branched menorah, starting with one on the first night and reaching eight on the last. Other customs, per Britannica:
For planning, the evenings matter most: candle lighting starts at sundown, so check an evening party or late call during those eight days with colleagues who observe it.
Three December holidays come before Christmas and matter as much as the 25th in parts of Europe and Latin America: St. Nicholas Day, St. Lucia’s Day and Las Posadas. The first is a gift-giving day in its own right.
St. Nicholas Day (December 6). In the Low Countries and some German-speaking areas, children leave out shoes or stockings on the evening before and wake to small presents, sweets and chocolate coins, according to Britannica.
St. Lucia’s Day (December 13). Britannica calls it a festival of lights meant to bring hope during the darkest time of the year. It’s especially important in Sweden, Norway and the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland, and in Sweden it opens the Christmas season with candlelit processions of children singing.
Las Posadas (December 16 to 24). Celebrated in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and parts of the United States, Las Posadas reenacts Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging before the birth of Jesus. A nightly procession goes from house to house with songs, and each night ends with a party.
See how employee holiday gifts work when each person picks a card they’ll actually use.
The winter solstice falls on December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere, the day with the least daylight, and several cultures mark it with a family festival. Two widely celebrated ones are Dongzhi in China and Yalda Night in Iran, both described in Britannica’s list of solstice celebrations.
Christmas falls on December 25 and is celebrated by many Christians and, since the early 20th century, by many non-Christians as a secular family holiday, according to Britannica. In the US, Christmas Day is a federal holiday, and in 2026 it falls on a Friday.
The same holiday runs on different clocks:
If you’re choosing Christmas gifts for staff, our guide to Christmas gift cards for employees covers amounts, timing and payroll.
Boxing Day is a public holiday on December 26 in the UK and in Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand, according to Britannica. In 2026, December 26 falls on a Saturday, so the UK bank holiday moves to Monday, December 28, in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, per GOV.UK.
The name likely comes from boxes of gifts once given to servants and tradespeople, or from church alms boxes opened for the poor. Boxing Day isn’t a US federal holiday, so a US team working December 28 may find its UK colleagues out.
Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration of African heritage, family and community, held from December 26 to January 1, mainly in the United States. Maulana Karenga, a professor of Africana studies, created it in 1966, and it’s also celebrated by Black communities in Canada and the Caribbean, per Britannica.
Each of the seven days is dedicated to one of the seven principles, the Nguzo Saba, listed on the official Kwanzaa website:
Families light one candle a day on a kinara, which holds one black, three red and three green candles. On December 31, families join a community feast called the karamu. Gifts, called zawadi, are one of the holiday’s symbols, and the name comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” meaning “first fruits.”
New Year’s Eve on December 31 closes the year almost everywhere, but the days off around it differ by country. Scotland, Japan and mainland China all give a longer break than January 1 alone, which matters for any first-week-of-January deadline.
In the US, December 31 isn’t a federal holiday on its own. For the full US calendar, see our post on company holidays and federal dates.
Three major holidays sit just outside December and often get folded into year-end planning: Diwali, Three Kings Day and Lunar New Year, alongside the January 7 Orthodox Christmas covered above.
HR teams plan around December holidays best by starting from each country’s official holiday list, then asking employees which days they personally want kept clear. Public holiday lists tell you when offices close, while personal observances such as Hanukkah evenings or Kwanzaa often happen during a normal working week.
A digital gift card suits December holidays because it doesn’t assume which holiday someone celebrates or where they shop. With a Giftronaut Choice Card, each recipient selects their country when they redeem and chooses from the rewards available there. Our catalog spans 4,300+ brands across 225 countries.
One rule applies whichever holiday you’re marking: in the US, gift cards given to employees count as taxable wages however small the amount, according to IRS Publication 15-B, so tell payroll before the order goes out.
The planning call did happen, on the third date I picked, after a teammate in Edinburgh pointed out that January 2 is a holiday there too. These days, before I book anything between early December and the first week of January, I open each country’s holiday list and then ask the team one question: “Which days are yours?”
List the countries your team works in, open each one’s official holiday list, and send one short, optional question before the calendar fills up. It takes an afternoon, and nobody spends their holiday on a planning call.
Browse the gift cards available in each country before you pick a send date.
The main December holidays are Hanukkah, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve. Saint Nicholas Day, Saint Lucia’s Day, Las Posadas and the solstice festivals of Dongzhi and Yalda also fall in December.
Hanukkah 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, December 4, and ends at nightfall on Saturday, December 12. Its dates change every year because it follows the Hebrew calendar.
No, December 31 isn’t a federal holiday on its own. It’s observed only when January 1 falls on a Saturday, so Friday, December 31, 2027, counts because January 1, 2028, is a Saturday.
No, Boxing Day isn’t a US federal holiday. It’s a public holiday in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and in 2026 the UK observes it on Monday, December 28.
Use inclusive wording such as “happy holidays” in company-wide messages and ask employees which days they want kept clear. Then keep deadlines off those days and time any gifts to each person’s holiday.
Yes. A Giftronaut Choice Card lets each recipient choose their country and brand when they redeem, and you can schedule it for the day they celebrate. In the US, employee gift cards are taxable wages.