One of the most entertaining arguments in the Ainsworth home throughout my teenage years was the Dad’s holidays versus Mom’s holidays debate. It was a good-natured quarrel, rooted in the fact that by then, they both had solid jobs with good benefits. Dad was a trailer mechanic with Yellow Freight, and Mom was a rural letter carrier for the United States Postal Service.

In all fairness one received about the same number of paid holidays as the other. Outside of the big six, though, their holidays did not often line up with one another. The argument would start something like this:

Mom (with a competitive grin): “I’m off work tomorrow!”

Anyone else in the family: &ldquo...

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