As Haz pointed out above, freshman school and hiring take up time but "holiday" takes on a whole new meaning. Everyone and their 10 best friends want your attention. One tiny example, every county in the district has a Democratic Central Committee, each of those will be asking for her to attend a meeting asap. Same for the Chambers of Commerce, the bigger Port Districts, County Commissioners etc. the list goes on and on. Campaigns are nonstop. But the expectations after the election are as well: she will be EXPECTED ("what, we're not important enough for Ms Reed College?") to be everywhere in the district. That's just home district stuff. Then there are the endless flights to and from DC (and other locations) to meet and participate in the endless functions and meetings. It's a "challenging" existence. Holiday breaks don't mean what civilians think they mean.