Home Alone For The Christmas Holiday (Hooray!)
Don’t feel glum if you find yourself at home alone this #Christmas.
Yes, Christmas is traditionally about making time for friends and family. But if it looks like you’re going to be spending the #holiday on your own, why not treat it as a new sort of adventure?
Feast until you sleep
Just because you’re eating alone, doesn’t mean you have to cook for one. Now’s your chance to have a scrumptious Christmas feast to yourself: all the turkey, goose, roast spuds and pudding you can handle. (And you don’t have to excuse yourself to anyone if you get a bit windy.)
Pick up that book
Trying to finish a book on summer holiday is difficult. When you’re in the sun it’s easy to get distracted and lured into parties and barbecues. But when the nights close in and it’s too nippy to go outside, curl up by the fire with a glass of mulled wine and that book you’ve been meaning to read and go on an uninterrupted adventure.
Don’t skimp on decor
We’ve written before about decorating one’s home like a film set (meaning with care and attention, not like you’re living in #StarWars). You can still go mad with the fairy lights and glitter this Christmas, but without the bickering over what bauble should go where. And you can always share your decor selfies on Facebook.
Go for luxury – or not
Normally, Christmas lunch is all about setting out the fine china and crystal glasses so visitors feel special. And, of course, you can still create a magical dining experience for yourself, should you choose. But you could also eat off paper plates and chuck everything in the bin afterwards – that way the focus is on the food, not the washing up.
Go for a walk
If you have friends and family around for the holiday, you’re tied into conversation and have a duty to keep them well fed and watered. But if you’re on your own, you can escape the house and go for a walk on Christmas morning. My area is terribly noisy, but it’s blissfully still on the 25th. It’s like a whole new world.
Get into the groove
Give yourself a merry Christmas by making sure you’ve always got a tune playing in the background. Whether you want some traditional carols, smooth jazz or party bangers for carefree dancing around the kitchen, turn it up and let loose.
Get in touch with people
Now is the right time to reach out to relationships that, for whatever reason, have fallen by the wayside a little bit as well as maybe start new ones.
Recently a neighbour of mine slipped a Christmas card through my door with a friendly invite for Mulled wine and Mince Pie on Christmas Eve at 5pm. I hadn’t had the chance to meet these neighbours before with my hectic work life, but this is a nice way to ‘open the door’ to your neighbours and form new friendships.
Send cards to family and friends that you haven’t seen in a while but still think of fondly (but perhaps not fondly enough to share all that boozy pudding you’re going to cook for yourself).
Have you got any ideas on how to make a festive solo celebration? Let us know what they are in the comments.
PS. If you know someone else who’s going to be alone at Christmas, but perhaps they’re not doing as well as you and aren’t comfortable talking about it, maybe they could give the Samaritans a ring for a chat. Everyone deserves to be happy at this time of year.