I recently purchased a business, and this issue came up, because the holidays are approaching. Our Holiday time off is structured like this:

I have an online scheduling system. You ask for time off within 30 days of a holiday. Our program tells us who the highest performers are, and they are automatically scheduled off exactly 30 days before the holiday and they get the time off.

If you have to work a holiday then you get overtime pay for the week. (Federal, Religious Holidays, Your birthday.)

If you bid for a day and didn't get it. You also get first pick on a non holiday week. We don't do seniority, because I believe if you are a senior team member, your performance should be better than someone elses. If you are a manager, I go by the scores of your team, with anyone whose been with the company less than a year removed.

We do know people game the system. They know if they dont really want Thanksgiving or Easter off, then they put in a request for it, hoping to not get it so they can get first bid on Christmas. I don't care if they do because I've build that possibility in to the pay structure.

It costs me about 800 dollars a year, per person and everyone is happy. If you can't afford to pay a living wage, you need to evaluate your morals, or get into a different industry.