“How many sleeps until Christmas?” is one of the most-asked date questions of the year, closely followed by the same question for vacations, birthdays and long weekends. This calculator answers it for 27 US holidays, observances and season starts, or for any date you enter. Beyond the day count, it shows weeks, months, workdays and weekends in between, plus a sorted list of every upcoming holiday.
How to use the days until calculator
- Choose an event from Count down to, or pick A date of my own and enter the date and an optional name.
- Counting from defaults to today. Change it to plan from a different starting day.
- Read the number of days on the tape, with the breakdowns below it.
- Scroll the Upcoming holidays table to see how far away everything else is.
If the event’s date has already passed this year, the calculator rolls forward to next year automatically. For a custom date in the past, it counts the days since instead.
How the days are counted
Both dates are turned into day numbers on the calendar and subtracted:
The weeks figure divides by 7, and the months figure counts whole calendar months first and then the leftover days, the way you would on a wall calendar. Workdays are the Mondays through Fridays strictly between the two dates, after removing observed federal holidays.
Worked example
From Sunday, October 11, 2026, to Christmas Day.
The next Christmas is Friday, December 25, 2026. Day numbers differ by 75, which is 10 weeks and 5 days, or 2 months and 14 days.
Between the two dates there are 54 weekdays; three of them are federal holidays (Columbus Day on October 12, Veterans Day on November 11 and Thanksgiving on November 26), leaving 51 workdays. There are 10 weekends in between.
Holiday rules used
| Event | Rule |
|---|---|
| New Year’s Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Veterans Day, Christmas | Fixed dates: Jan 1, Jun 19, Jul 4, Nov 11, Dec 25 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Third Monday of January |
| Presidents’ Day | Third Monday of February |
| Mother’s Day | Second Sunday of May |
| Memorial Day | Last Monday of May |
| Father’s Day | Third Sunday of June |
| Labor Day | First Monday of September |
| Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day | Second Monday of October |
| Election Day | Tuesday after the first Monday of November, even years |
| Thanksgiving | Fourth Thursday of November |
| Black Friday | Day after Thanksgiving |
| Easter Sunday | First Sunday after the church’s paschal full moon |
| Seasons | Equinoxes and solstices, US Eastern Time |
Federal holidays follow 5 U.S.C. 6103. When one lands on a weekend, offices close on the nearest weekday, but the holiday itself — and this countdown — keeps its real date.
Counting tips
- Inclusive counts: for “how many days of vacation do I have left, counting today,” add one to the result.
- Long weekends: the workday count already skips federal holidays, so it shows how many days you actually need to work before the event.
- Weeks for kids: the weeks-and-days figure is often easier to understand than a big number of days.
For a live clock that ticks down to the second, use the countdown timer. To count between any two dates, try the date difference calculator, and for project deadlines the business days calculator lets you change which days are weekends. The Easter date calculator explains why Easter moves each year.
Frequently asked questions
How many days until Christmas?
From October 11, 2026, there are 75 days until Christmas Day, Friday, December 25, 2026 — 10 weeks and 5 days, including 51 workdays. The calculator updates the count from today's date automatically.
Does the count include today?
No. It counts how many times you will wake up before the event, so tomorrow is 1 day away and the event day itself is the last day counted. If you want to include today as well, add one.
How are holidays like Thanksgiving and Easter worked out?
Each event has a rule rather than a fixed date: Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November, Memorial Day the last Monday of May, Mother's Day the second Sunday of May, and Easter follows the church computus. The calculator applies the rule for the current year and moves to next year once the date has passed.
What counts as a workday?
Monday through Friday strictly between today and the event, minus US federal holidays on their observed dates. Weekend days and the two end dates are not included.
When do the seasons start?
The first day of spring, summer, fall and winter is taken from the equinox or solstice in US Eastern Time. For 2027 that is March 20, June 21, September 23 and December 21.