Holiday workings

Holidays mean different things to different people. Some rejoice in the idea of spending several days with their family and some are guilted into the experience. Your PI loves this period because it offers short respite from bureaucratic annoyances of running a lab. Empty labs and hallways mean more room for your PI to think, do science ( the original point of the whole thing) and enjoy general piece and quiet. 

Students derive different meaning from the holidays. Weeks leading up to the winter break are filled with feverish work, in an attempt ( one that often fails) to reduce guilt associated with not doing any work for a week or so. Most people are effected by the warmth if the holiday season, those who remain resilient blame commercial side of the season for their grumpiness. Never the less, all embrace this excuse to leave the lab. 

Paradoxically taking a week off for winter is another way to maintain productivity. For some it's the cabin fever that drives them back to the lab, for others holidays provide nurturing thought environment. Whiteout the need to constantly produce results, one is free to think for a bit, to read for a bit and to digest a bit. This is why you need to bring work with you to your holiday trip. The important thing is to decide what type of work can be done. The general rule of thumb is not to take anything that "needs" to be done. If you take something with a deadline, you are just going to stress yourself out and ruin the holiday for yourself and your family. Do not bring raw data, any analysis you do, you will just end up questioning. Data analysis is critical, and can not be done in between egg-nog, beer and roasted beast. Instead make your goal to improve in a single area. Grab something small and get slightly better at it. It will likely mean you will have to sequester yourself away from your family and snowy slopes for an hour or two with a notepad, a book, and a mug of coffee. It will also mean that you will succeed in keeping your holiday relaxing and productive. It will also make you a bit more of a badass.