Christmas Vacation

For some reason I don't understand, most of the state has broken from the decades of tradition for the winter vacation, which was from Christmas eve to the day after new years, to give the kids a 2 week winter break, starting on the 20th and continuing until the 5th. For anyone who has children and a job, which is most parents, this is huge. Now, instead of having to find daycare for 1 week, or taking a 1 week vacation (which alot of parents do), they have to find daycare for 2 weeks.  I'd really like to understand the reasoning here. I, myself, work from home, mostly, but have a part time job (for the moment), during which hours I work my brother can sit with my 10 year old. However, the week after Christmas he's planning on visiting family, so he won't be here. The answer I've found is to have the girl visit first her mother, than her aunt, for a few days each, and then I pick her up on New Years Eve at her aunt's house. But, when I return home (provided I still have a job after Christmas), if my brother has not also returned, there is no one to sit with the kid while I work. She is just too young to stay alone. I cannot afford to pay for a sitter for 5 hours for a minimum wage job, either, so there would be no point (except keeping the job) in my working at during this time. Alot of people in this country work minimum wage jobs, and if they have children, are barely getting by with that. If you add day care to the equation, well, there is just no point. Daycare costs more than the individual is earning.  I am currently in search for a day job which will pay me more, however, in the meantime I am strapped for cash. Deeply in debt, I need to dig out in order to be more financially secure.  As it is now, I only have 1 5 hour shift next week, and do not know if I will be kept on after Christmas. This worries me a little, but if I can get a day job, I'll be okay.  The twist in this equation is that I have been looking for a day job for 3 years with no success. There isn't a decent paying job in my field within 50 miles of me, and any more than 50 miles would be nearly impossible to commute, especially during the winter. We get a lot of snow up here, and sometimes even the highway is impassable for a while. Hard to keep a job when you can't get there. the jobs I'm looking at right now are more than 35 miles from my house, which is about an hour travel time. I can commute that, hopefully, but there will be times when that will be very difficult. Just plowing myself out of my driveway can be a half day chore, at times, and getting there on time is important to me. I've, at times, gone out after 10:00 pm to shovel in order to insure that I can actually get the car out of the driveway come morning. I spent an hour moving enough snow out of my driveway this morning to get my car out. It's not quite done yet, but we're close. There was only a few inches. There are times when the snow is a foot, or more, and that is a real killer to do by hand. I'm really not looking forward to it and it is one of the reasons that I don't like living here as much as I thought I would. I need to get a snowblower or some sort of plow if I am going to be able to manage. Hopefully, I'll find a way this year, because last year I failed (even though my mother gave me the money to get one - I had to spend it on oil).  I really wonder about a country where so much poverty is standard. I really wonder.