Holiday Custody Schedule: Thanksgiving and Christmas 2026

Thanksgiving lands on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026, and Christmas falls on a Friday. For a single mom sharing two kids with an ex, the hard question isn't the menu. It's whose house the kids wake up in, and the answer usually sits in one short line of the holiday custody schedule inside your court order.

This guide read the default holiday rules of four states on November 10, 2026: the Texas Family Code, Indiana's Parenting Time Guidelines, Utah's minimum parent-time statute and Michigan's statewide guideline, plus California's optional holiday form. One fact runs through most of them. 2026 is an even-numbered year, and under most of these defaults the words "odd" and "even" settle Thanksgiving before anyone argues about it.

Three lines to find in your holiday custody schedule tonight

• The word "odd" or "even" next to Thanksgiving and Christmas, and whose name sits beside it
• The start and end times, and the place the handoff happens
• Whether holidays "supersede" or "take precedence over" the regular weekends

Is 2026 your Thanksgiving or theirs?

Most default rules alternate by year number. In an even year like 2026, the Texas Family Code gives the Thanksgiving weekend to the managing conservator. Indiana and Utah give it to the noncustodial parent. So a single mother whose kids live mainly with her could keep Thanksgiving under the Texas default and lose it under the Indiana one, on the very same calendar.

Your own order outranks any default. Parents and judges can rewrite the years, the hours or the whole list, so read the signed holiday custody schedule before you book a bus ticket or buy a turkey. If your copy is lost, ask the clerk's office for one. The clause also flips every January: 2027 is odd, so next Thanksgiving goes the other way under the same words.

The 2026 dates, weekday by weekday

Here is how the two holidays fall this year, with what the Texas, Indiana and Utah defaults do on each date. A holiday custody schedule that names times instead of days, like "6 p.m. on the day school lets out," still needs your district's calendar beside it.

Date	Weekday	What the default rules read do that day
Nov. 25, 2026	Wednesday	Indiana's Thanksgiving time starts at 6 p.m. Texas starts at 6 p.m. on whatever day school lets out before Thanksgiving, so check your district.
Nov. 26, 2026	Thursday	Thanksgiving Day.
Nov. 29, 2026	Sunday	Texas and Indiana Thanksgiving time ends at 6 p.m. Utah's runs to 8:30 p.m. on the day before school resumes.
Dec. 24, 2026	Thursday	Christmas Eve. Texas, Indiana and Utah give it no slot of its own; it goes with whoever holds that part of the break.
Dec. 25, 2026	Friday	Christmas Day. In Indiana, the parent whose half misses it gets noon to 9 p.m.
Dec. 27, 2026	Sunday	Utah splits winter break at 8:30 p.m.
Dec. 28, 2026	Monday	Texas splits the Christmas vacation at noon.
Dec. 31, 2026 and Jan. 1, 2027	Thursday and Friday	Indiana counts neither as a separate holiday. The year turns odd, which flips every odd-even clause.
Nov. 25, 2027	Thursday	Next Thanksgiving, which goes to the other parent under the same odd-even wording.

If 2026 is your year to host and the budget is thin, Christmas assistance programs for single moms keep their own sign-up windows, so check those dates now.

Five shapes a holiday clause can take

A holiday custody schedule usually mixes a few building blocks. Michigan's Parenting Time Guideline puts it in one line: parents "may choose to alternate, share, or split holidays." Knowing the shapes helps a single mom spot which one her order uses, or which one to propose.

• Alternating years. One parent has Thanksgiving in even years, the other in odd years. It's the backbone of the Texas, Indiana and Utah defaults.
• Splitting the day. Indiana carves noon to 9 p.m. on Christmas Day out of the other parent's half, so both homes see the kids on the 25th.
• Christmas Eve against Christmas Day. Under Michigan's "share" or "split" wording, one home can take the Eve and the other the Day, swapping each year. California's form prints no row for either, so you'd write them in by hand.
• Fixed every year. Texas gives Mother's Day weekend to the mother every year. Michigan's guide offers the case of one family's yearly holiday gathering that matters less to the other side.
• Halves of the break. Texas, Indiana and Utah each cut winter break in two, at different points, as the chart below shows.

Where three states cut winter break

The halves look alike on paper and land differently on Christmas morning. Using one example break, school out Friday, Dec. 18, and back Monday, Jan. 4, here is who holds each night in 2026 under each default.

Under Indiana's guidelines, each parent gets half the total days of the break, starting at 6 p.m. the day school lets out and ending at 6 p.m. the day before it resumes. On the example calendar, that puts the midpoint on Dec. 26. The guideline names no hour for that swap, only that no exchange happens between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Either way, Christmas sits in the custodial parent's half and the other parent gets the noon to 9 p.m. window.

Utah's Section 81-9-302 cuts at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 27 every year, whatever the school dates. Texas cuts at noon on Dec. 28. A single mother moving states, or holding an order written in one state while living in another, should read which clock her own holiday custody schedule uses.

The four-state rulebook side by side

The table sets the Thanksgiving and Christmas rules next to each other, with what each one means for a single mom this year. "Custodial" and "noncustodial" are Indiana's and Utah's labels. Texas uses managing and possessory conservator, and under its standard order a possessory period starts with pickup at the managing conservator's home.

State and rule	Thanksgiving	Christmas and winter break	What that means in 2026
Texas, Family Code 153.314	Possessory conservator in odd years, managing conservator in even years. 6 p.m. on the day school lets out until 6 p.m. Sunday	Possessory conservator in even years from 6 p.m. on the dismissal day until noon on Dec. 28; the managing conservator then has it until 6 p.m. the day before school	Managing conservator has Thanksgiving. Possessory conservator has Christmas morning
Indiana, Parenting Time Guidelines II.F	Noncustodial parent in even years, 6 p.m. Wednesday until 6 p.m. Sunday	Each parent gets half the total days. Custodial parent has the first half in even years. Christmas Day noon to 9 p.m. goes to the parent without it	Noncustodial parent has Thanksgiving. Custodial parent has the first half of the break
Utah, Code 81-9-302 (renumbered from 30-3-35 in September 2024)	Noncustodial parent in even years, from school dismissal or 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. the day before school resumes	First half ends at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 27 and goes to the noncustodial parent in odd years; second half runs to 8:30 p.m. before school resumes	Noncustodial parent has Thanksgiving. Custodial parent has the first half
Michigan, statewide Parenting Time Guideline	No statewide default. The guideline calls itself "a tool and not the law." Parents can alternate, share or split holidays, and it advises writing the plan into the court order		Whatever your order and county policy say

When Thanksgiving lands on the other parent's weekend

Every rule read puts the holiday custody schedule ahead of the regular one. Texas says its holiday terms "supersede conflicting weekend or Thursday periods" no matter how far apart the parents live. Indiana's holiday schedule "shall take precedence" over regular and extended time. Utah lists an order of precedence, with Mother's Day and Father's Day first, then birthdays, other holidays, extended time and finally the weekday and weekend schedule.

Indiana adds a weekend rule worth knowing. A weekend missed because it was the other parent's holiday is simply lost, not owed back. A parent who gets two weekends in a row because of a holiday keeps the third one too, so the every-other-weekend rhythm carries on.

Say you're a single mom of two in Indiana, and your ex has every other weekend. This year, 2026, Thanksgiving is his under the default even if it lands on your weekend. In 2027 it flips: Thanksgiving is yours, so if his weekend falls on it, the kids stay with you. The same holiday-first logic runs on equal-time orders; how 50/50 custody schedules rotate covers the base weeks that holidays sit on top of.

Handoff times, school days and the drive across town

A plan can be clear on paper and still fall apart at the curb. A clear holiday custody schedule sets hours and places, so a single mom working a holiday shift isn't left improvising on Christmas Eve. The defaults read do it this way:

• Texas. Pickup is at the managing conservator's home, and a conservator can elect a start at school dismissal for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Either parent may send a competent adult, the child's things come back with the child, and a parent who can't make a period must say so.
• Indiana. No Christmas break exchanges between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. unless both parents agree.
• Utah. A stepparent, grandparent or other responsible adult may pick up if the other parent knows who it is and the parent is with the child by 7 p.m. If the holiday falls on a school day, the parent holding it gets the kids to school.
• Siblings on different calendars. Utah lets the parent holding the holiday keep the children together, from the first evening all of them are out of school until the evening before any one goes back.

Travel needs its own line. Michigan's guide gives the example of 30 days' written notice before any trip, and California's optional holiday schedule form asks for a basic itinerary with dates, places and emergency numbers. If you work a holiday shift, a right of first refusal clause decides whether a sitter or your ex covers those hours.

If your order says "reasonable" or never mentions Christmas

Vague wording feels friendly until December. Michigan's Friend of the Court can help with denied time only when there is an order, and it may not be able to act when parents are using time "as agreed" or "reasonable parenting time." Texas works the same way in reverse: parents may agree to other times in advance, and without agreement the order's specified terms control.

An order with no holiday custody schedule leaves no specified terms to fall back on. California's FL-341(C) is an optional attachment, not a default schedule: it applies only once parents or a judge fill it in and attach it to an order. Still, it works as a checklist anywhere.

The form lists Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving weekend and the December and January school break, with columns for every year, even years and odd years, plus the times. Once attached, any three-day weekend the form leaves off goes to whoever normally has that weekend.

Michigan's guide also suggests mapping a full year on a calendar and counting each parent's overnights, since holiday time might factor into child support. For a single mother on one income, that count is worth doing before signing. A written co-parent agreement is one place to draft a holiday custody schedule like this before anyone signs.

Three ways to change this year's plan

Agree in writing. Texas lets parents use any times they mutually agree to in advance. Indiana says an agreed parenting plan must be written, signed by both parties and filed for court approval to be enforceable. For a single mom, a text can confirm a one-time swap, but a lasting change to a holiday custody schedule belongs in a filed document.

Try mediation. Michigan's guide lists the Friend of the Court, community dispute resolution centers and private mediators. If parents agree, the mediator writes it up and it may become a court order. If they don't, the order stays the same. A single mom heading that way can read what custody mediation involves first.

Ask the court. A judge can change a holiday custody schedule, and nobody can promise how a judge rules on a request. Ask the clerk how long a hearing takes to schedule before you count on it for this Christmas.

Keeping a record when a handoff goes wrong

Michigan spells out the clearest enforcement path read. A parent files a written complaint with the Friend of the Court within 56 days of the missed time, and the office sends a copy to both parents within 14 days. Makeup time must be the same type as the time denied and happen within one year. Using makeup holiday time takes at least 28 days' written notice.

Either parent can object to makeup time within 21 days, and then the office can pick another tool: mediation, a joint meeting or a contempt hearing. Other states run their own process, but a single mother anywhere is on firmer ground with records. For each missed or late exchange, write down:

• The date, the time set in the order and the time anyone actually showed up
• The place, and who else was there
• Texts or emails about the exchange, saved as screenshots with dates visible
• Any school day missed, and what the school was told

Timestamped messages make that log quick to keep, and some co-parenting apps with free plans keep that log automatically. This guide is general information from a writer and researcher, not a lawyer, and it isn't legal advice. Take any doubt about your own holiday custody schedule to an attorney or legal aid office.

Holiday custody questions single moms ask

Can my kids choose where they spend Christmas?

None of the default schedules read hands the choice to a child. Indiana does ask the noncustodial parent to make reasonable efforts to fit a teenager's school, sports and social plans. Beyond that, a child's wish usually becomes a swap both parents agree to, ideally in writing, rather than something a teen decides alone on Christmas Eve.

Does the holiday rule change if my ex lives in another state?

Not under the Texas default, which applies its holiday terms whatever the distance between parents. Utah adds virtual parent-time when parents live at least 100 miles apart and the equipment is reasonably available, as a supplement to in-person time, not a substitute. Long drives still need an agreed meeting point and times, so put those in writing.

What about a baby or toddler?

Indiana shortens holidays for young children. From birth through four months, each scheduled holiday is two hours; from five to nine months, three hours; from ten to 18 months, eight hours; and from 19 to 36 months, ten hours, usually with the child back an hour before bedtime. Utah's 81-9-302 covers ages five to 18 only.

My family celebrates on Christmas Eve. Can I ask for it?

You can propose it. Indiana says religious holidays should be considered and added when appropriate, and that such additions can affect Christmas Day but not the Christmas vacation split. Elsewhere, write the exact hours into a proposal, offer the other parent a matching block, and get any yes signed before December.

Sources

• Texas Legislature. Family Code Chapter 153, Sections 153.311 to 153.317 (standard possession order). statutes.capitol.texas.gov (retrieved November 10, 2026)
• Indiana Supreme Court. Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines, Section II, effective January 1, 2022. rules.incourts.gov (retrieved November 10, 2026)
• Utah Legislature. Utah Code Section 81-9-302, minimum parent-time for a child 5 to 18, effective May 6, 2026. le.utah.gov (retrieved November 10, 2026)
• Michigan State Court Administrative Office, Friend of the Court Bureau. Michigan Parenting Time Guideline, last updated March 2022. courts.michigan.gov (retrieved November 10, 2026)
• Utah Legislature. Utah Code Section 81-9-302, version effective January 1, 2027 (amended by Chapter 126, 2026 General Session). le.utah.gov (retrieved November 10, 2026)
• Judicial Council of California. Form FL-341(C), Children's Holiday Schedule Attachment, rev. July 1, 2016. courts.ca.gov (retrieved November 10, 2026)