A buddy of mine went through something similar a while back when he asked for a raise. They said no; he quit. After he left, the remaining staff & replacement hires proved inadequate to the task load his small group was handling. So they reached out to him to teach the n00bs his job.-----
I am by no means psychic, nor am I able to credibly predict the future in most circumstances. That being said...
I am reasonably certain that some of the powers-that-be are unhappy that I am taking off the week of Christmas and then being let go at the end of December. They were really hoping I'd be able to teach everything I know to the guy who is staying on. However, he is taking next week off, and I have off the week after, and then he has a few days off at the end of the year, so I will only see him tomorrow.
I am about 90% certain that they are seriously considering telling me my vacation has been cancelled (after being approved months ago) so that they can get one last week of knowledge transfer. Which they won't be able to do, because I have already bought nonrefundable tickets, and I will still be taking that time off. I mean, what are they going to do, fire me? They've already told me I'm gone after the 31st.
On the other hand, there's a nonzero chance that the middleman company will tell me I'm done on the 19th when the rest of their staff is done, in which case it's all a moot point!
On the one hand, I have some stress to be back on the unemployment line. On the other hand, the relief of finally being done with the utter shenanigans that have started happening around here may exceed that stress by an order of magnitude. Seriously, some of the higher-ups could write books about being the most horrendous human beings.
Instead of the modest raise he asked for, they wound up paying him his severance pay PLUS his even higher teaching contractor fees. For months.
Make them an offer to be a hired gun while you’re looking for a new full time position.