Let's try for January 10th.....

So in efforts allow workers more time off during the holidays, NASA is delaying the launch of Atlantis for January 10.

The delay will allow workers to take time off during Christmas and New Years, which is considered important very important given the high workloads crews have been under during last week's launch scrubs. The delay won't affect plans to conduct a tanking test of the orbiter's External Tank (ET), still scheduled for Tuesday, in an effort to track down the root cause of the sensor problems.

Missions are the kind of events that you really have to plan around. I purposely didn't make plans to be with my family out in Washington this year, thinking I'd be supporting landing by now. But, now that they have called off work....tickets are WAY TOO expensive to purchase now.....and well..me and a couple of buddies are family-less for the holidays. But honestly, this is the way it goes, and it's all worth it in the end when we launch and support the mission in Houston. At least tickets will be cheaper after the holidays for family visits. :)

Hope everyone enjoys the holidays wherever you may be spending it....