Are "no work" holidays supposed to take away my work vacation days???

I'm glad I read this thread. This seems so backwards. My boss would never tell me he/she was going to use my vacation time to use for Christmas. And that's the point of earning vacation days isn't it? To use them ever how long you want and when, not when a federal holiday rolls around. That's how people take three or four weeks of vacation and 'never work'. Good to know, this is so backwards.