For the past two years in a row, I’ve been summoned for jury duty. I’m not sure why I’ve been singled out to receive a jury summons two years in a row; I’d always thought the courts couldn’t summons you any more than every three years. However, this summer I again received my notice just as I did last summer. And just like last year, I rescheduled my jury service to a holiday week. I know, I know, maybe this is stretching things a bit and shirking my duties. Yet since I don’t get paid for attending jury service, I have to schedule it during weeks when I’m not working – which happen to be around the holidays.

Last year, I rescheduled my service for the week of Christmas since it happened to fall on a weekday. Of course my hope was that there wouldn’t be a need for a jury since it was a holiday week, and don’t judges take those holidays off anyway? Apparently so since I wasn’t required to attend. This year I again received my notice over the summer, and since I can reschedule my service up to 6-months in advance, I choose the week of Thanksgiving. Not only did I have the whole week off from work, I realized that with Thanksgiving falling on a Thursday, the likelihood of having to attend a court case was slim. I was right. After calling in three days in a row, the automated system advised me that my service had been completed.

Will I be summoned again next year since I keep scheduling my service for holiday weeks? Is that why my name keeps popping up? I’ve thought that maybe this was the reason, yet there’s nothing on the summons that states I can’t reschedule for a week in which a national holiday falls on a weekday. Is what I’m doing wrong? Maybe, but since I’m allowed to reschedule my duty to a week that is more conducive to my own schedule, I don’t see why I can’t choose any week of the year. Of course, this has only worked to my benefit because I’ve received my jury summons in the later half of the year.

I wonder if they’ll catch onto me and send me a summons in January instead of June.

Have you ever rescheduled your jury duty service to a holiday week? Do you enjoy attending jury duty? Does your employer offer paid jury duty leave?

I tell myself every year I’m going to get a head start on Christmas: mail my personalized, decorated cards in a timely manner; make or purchase gifts for co-workers and people who have really helped me throughout the year; complete and ship family gifts no later than at least 10 days before Christmas. It never fails, I’m always late!

As I count down the days until Christmas and I begin to feel harried, a few things have taken importance over purchasing gifts or making my own cards. I can easily use these as excuses for my late start. One of these important things was taking finals for my credential program classes. It was important to me to do my best, study, and make sure I turned in quality work. Another thing that wraps up around the same time as holiday activities is school. For the past many years, I’ve been placed in long-term assignments that require me to teach up until the day the students begin their winter break. When teaching elementary school students this close to the holidays, there are many things that need to be done: holiday parties and organizing food and drinks, helping the students practice singing for their program, completing holiday projects that they need to take home before they go on a 3-week break. All of these activities take some of my mental and physical time away from “getting ready for Christmas.”

With these excuses now coming to a close, next week appears to be more open and I should be able to fully focus on the holidays. OH WAIT! I forgot. I have JURY DUTY next week. Well, that depends on if they will really need me. I purposefully rescheduled my Jury Duty for the week of Christmas in hopes that the courts really don’t want to go to jury right before a major holiday. I did this for my husband last year, and they didn’t need him at all. All he had to do was call in for 2 days and he was relieved of this public service for another 3 years. Hopefully this will work to my advantage as well. Especially since the court I am assigned to is kind of far away and traffic will be really bad next week!

In the end, whatever gets accomplished will just have to be good enough. And next year, I will again promise myself to start early. like before Thanksgiving and not be so frazzled!