[Johnny555]

Sure, there could be mitigating circumstances, but I've worked for a startup that folded just after Christmas while the office was closed for the holiday, we were all fired by phone.

It sucked.

Spending the holidays with family can be even more stress inducing when you've just learned that you lost your job. No ability to go out with local friends or former coworkers to commiserate about being fired and talk about job prospects. I was too distracted with job searching to really relax and enjoy time with family.

Rumor was that the investors pulled the plug before the end of the year for tax reasons, but I'm skeptical since it took months to sell off assets (physical and virtual) and wind down the business.

I made out pretty well though, got a lucrative contract with the company that bought the core software to keep it running for them until they could merge it into their systems.