I ordinarily would have had to work but asked for PTO (Personal Time Off) on the 31st.
I work in the software industry and our company shuts down the week between Christmas and New Year because many of our customers shut down as well. Only essential personel (tech support, IT, building security) works at reduced staffing but all engineering activity, business development and sales shut down. The time off comes out of our normal PTO pool, so it isn't a freebie on top of what we get.