Hi! This is my first post outside of Introductions...
Calling in or calling out, whatever you call it, on a busy day/night is bad poker (uh, dirty pool?), and you let down your team by doing it (especially if someone else can't make it to work that night for a real reason). You may not hear a word from your TL/ETL, but they will remember you did it. Better to just say you won't be able to make it, while they are making out the schedule (as early as possible), and live with the consequences. Presentation is important, but you could do worse than to say:
"Hey, Bob (or Alice), I want to be up front. I won't be able to work on Christmas Eve (or Black Friday or Boxing Day or whenever), because I've got family visiting/it's my new baby's first Christmas (or Black Friday or Boxing Day or w/e)."
If the consequences are that you don't work at Target anymore, well, do you want to work at a store where the leadership doesn't share your values?
As for me, I need the $$$ too much to be choosy right now, so I signed up immediately. We just eat dinner a little earlier, or a little later, or whatever. Say, I better find a Santa hat to wear that night! I wonder if a red (and ugly) sweater would be okay?
But yeah, we work in retail, so we should probably expect some unhappy hours.