Holiday Hours: Christmas & New Year's

You once could be fined for celebrating Christmas in Massachusetts. (Massachusetts State Library)

Businesses, schools and government offices will be taking breaks next week as the nation celebrates Christmas and New Year's. Christmas falls on Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024, and New Year's Day on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. 

Christmas is now a state holiday but it wasn't always. The General Court under the control of the Puritans outlawed the holiday in 1659.

There was too much eating, drinking, wassailing and other festiveness for the colony's righteous rulers. Even after the ban was lifted, Christmas was treated as a regular day until its popularization during the Victorian era. Thank goodness. Can you imagine Norman Rockwell not painting Stockbridge at Christmas?

The Puritans weren't big on New Year's either, preferring to eschew partying for quiet reflection. They did, however, like a good resolution, as Stockbridge's the Rev. Jonathan Edwards proved a prime example (70!).

Schools and public colleges are closed for Christmas vacation, with local school systems reopening on Thursday, Jan. 2. 

Christmas Day, Dec. 25
(Most stores close early on the Dec. 24, some restaurants and bars may be open later)

Closed
Liquor stores
Businesses
Most retail (convenience stores & gas station may have limited hours)Local, state and federal offices
Post offices (reopen and mail delivery on Dec. 26 and Jan. 2)
Public libraries
Schools
Banks
Stock market
Museums

NOTE: BRTA will not operate on Wednesday, Dec. 25. BRTA office also closed on Tuesday, Dec. 24. Fixed route and paratransit services will be ending early on Dec. 24. All service will end by 8:30 p.m.

Public libraries
Schools
Banks
Stock market
Museums

NOTE: BRTA will not be operating on Monday, Jan. 1, 2025. Fixed route and paratransit services will be ending early on Dec. 31. All service will end by 8:30 p.m.

Open
Cinemas
Ski areas
Convenience stores

North Adams' Child Care of the Berkshires Gets New Boiler

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:36PM / Monday, January 27, 2025

State Rep. John Barrett III, Mayor Jennifer Macksey and child-care President Amy Hall pose with Mariyana Wiggins-Rigers and Meadow Gancarz, who are attending the preschool program.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Child Care of the Berkshires has been undergoing several initiatives to update its facility in the Sarah T. Haskins School.

 

The most recent project is the replacement of its boiler, which was made possible thanks to $50,000 of earmarked funds from the state budget that state Rep. John Barrett III secured. 

 

Barrett visited the child-care agency on Friday to see the dark cyan boiler, highlighting his contribution with a plaque saying, "Representative John Barrett Honorary Boiler — Keeping Kids Warm for Years to Come."

 

"We are really dedicated to giving children of all income levels a really high-quality experience, and a lot of that is space. It makes a difference. It truly does," said Amy Hall, Child Care of the Berkshires president and CEO. 

 

"If a classroom is warm, then kids are going to be comfortable, then they're going to be able to learn. So this boiler helped us keep things a lot better, like the heat is much more even in the building, so the kids are warm, and they can just play and learn and be kids."

 

Barrett has had a close connection to the building since early on in his political career, starting in 1984, when elected mayor of North Adams. 

 

When he first came into office, the building was not in very good shape, he said.