Why Holidays Should Never Fall on a Monday

Holidays should never fall on Mondays. 

The effort that goes into hosting, or sometimes even attending, a holiday function is so great that it requires an off day, maybe even a whole weekend, to recover from it all. 

When a three-day weekend arises, we should celebrate the holiday on Friday and then give everyone their normal weekend.  Thursday nights (which would be the start of the weekend under my plan) are more fun than Sunday nights anyway. 

As Labor Day has come and gone, I'm reminded of exactly why holiday Mondays are such a bad idea by looking back to my Fourth of July (also a Monday), which went something like this:

8:00 a.m.: Wake up, start coffee maker.  Clean grill to host monster cookout later in day.
9:00:  Start preparation of burger patties and veggies for cookout. 
9:02:  Dang it.  I'm out of seasoning for the meat and two of our ears of corn are bad.  And we don't have any creamer for the coffee...
9:06:  Find shoes for quick grocery store run.
9:10: Arrive at eerily empty grocery store. I guess everyone else checked their grilling supplies at least a day early.  Interesting idea. 
9:32:  Come home, notice the grass looks kinda bad, even though I cut it last week. Lots of people coming over.  It looks just bad enough.  Dang it.
10:00: Grass is cut, time to shower.
10:12: Forgot about the burgers!!!!!!  Begin frantic burger preparation of partially defrosted burgers for 23 person cookout.   Enlist visiting friend's help to season vegetables, clean floors, dance and sing for quarters.  Well, maybe not the last part.  But most everything else. Make mental note to apologize later. 
10:52: Food is ready for cooking.  Friends stop off to bring drinks over, requiring ice chest preparation and refrigerator reconfiguration.  Remember that I forgot to eat breakfast. 
11:15 Fire up grill.
2:00 Guests having eaten already, I pull of the last three burgers on the grill.  Remember to eat breakfast.
2:05: Settle in to eat, put away food and finally relax and enjoy my afternoon.
2:14: Phone rings.  8 more guests on the way.  Pull food back out.
3:00: More guests arrive, time to play host again.
4:45: Attempt to herd people out so we can have dinner, shower and head out for fireworks show.
5:02: Still herding.
5:12: Herding momentum stalled.  Publically announce intention to take shower in hopes of getting people to leave.  No success.
5:13: Take shower in hopes guests will leave.
5:24: Partial Success.     
5:28: Leave house, allowing guests to stay in our absence.  Hopefully they will do our dishes while we're gone.
7:00: Arrive downtown and walk to friends' condo, arriving considerably late.  Watch fireworks.  Good time.
10:30: Head back to the car, fight monster insane traffic home.
11:30: Get home, look for guests who still might be there.  Collapse in a heap in preparation for work the next day.

I realize that not every holiday is quite that crazy.  Our Labor Day, for instance, was spent alone sitting on our porch.  But most people end up doing something--traveling, hosting a party, drinking too much--on a holiday from which they could use a little recovery time.

That's why holidays should never fall on a Monday.