When you use the holiday settings, you can either keep your listings visible, so that anyone can find them in search results and still purchase the item (that one will have the notice at the top of listings mentioning the delay and date of return), or you can make the listings invisible on eBay - they can't be found in search results and can't be purchased, but they can still be viewed on site if someone already has it on their watch list or has the item number, I have some items in my watch list currently and while I can still click on and view the listing from my watch list, I can not purchase it or add it to my cart, and if I provided the item title, you wouldn't be able to find it from a general search.

I am not sure what would be causing your listings to remain invisible after the holiday settings are removed, other than perhaps, without revision, it would take a while longer for them to re-index or reappear.