December 2026 Printable Calendar

December 2026 Opens on a Tuesday and Closes on a Thursday

The last month of 2026 begins on Tuesday the 1st and ends on Thursday the 31st. Its single federal holiday, Christmas Day, falls on Friday the 25th, which means it closes a working week instead of cutting one in half. That placement leaves the first three weeks of the month almost untouched, an unusual shape for a December.

The Month in Numbers

The month runs 31 days: 23 weekdays, plus four Saturdays (5, 12, 19, 26) and four Sundays (6, 13, 20, 27). Removing Christmas leaves 22 federal working days, level with October and four more than November managed. The first row of the grid is shared with November and the last spills into January, because the month runs Tuesday to Thursday.

Christmas Day on a Friday

A Friday holiday is the most convenient arrangement a mid-winter month can offer. The week beginning Monday the 21st runs four working days and then closes on the holiday itself, so nothing in the middle of it is lost. Federal offices, banks, and post offices shut on the 25th and mail does not run. The week of the 28th then holds four working days of its own, ending on New Year's Eve, which falls on Thursday the 31st.

What the Final Fortnight Is Actually For

Almost every December obligation lands in the two weeks before the holiday. Financial close, payroll cut-offs, insurance renewals, and any accounting that follows the calendar year all compress into the 7th through the 18th. Shipping follows the same rhythm: standard parcel services generally cut off in the week of the 7th, and anything requiring a signature belongs in the week of the 14th if it is to clear before the holiday. The week of the 21st, four days long, is the last one where another party is likely to answer the same day.

Rolling the Year Over

December is also where the next calendar gets written. Because January 1, 2027 falls on a Friday, the following year's first full working week does not begin until Monday the 4th. Setting first-of-year deadlines against the 4th rather than the 1st avoids a week of chasing people who have not returned yet. The week of the 14th is the practical window for that planning: the current year's work is winding down, but attention has not moved to the holiday.

Reading the Grid Row by Row

Laid out, the month runs Tuesday the 1st through Saturday the 5th, three Sunday-to-Saturday bands, then Sunday the 27th through Thursday the 31st. Two rows hold a Monday-to-Friday week that the holiday never touches, the ones beginning the 7th and the 14th. The row beginning the 21st loses its Friday to Christmas, and the row beginning the 28th runs four days and stops. Counting rows is faster than counting working days one at a time.

Printing the Sheet

A4 and US Letter each hold the complete month on one page, and the sheet needs no color cartridge to be readable. Marking the 25th first, then the shipping cut-off in the 7th-to-13th window, puts the month's two real deadlines on the page before anything else goes in. Use the print button for an immediate copy, or download the PDF to print later or hand a printed sheet to someone working to the same year-end.