Posted in Cats, Christmas, Cooking, Holidays

How To Get Away With Christmas

Posted on by D. Parker

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/Christmas is a time of cheer…right?

Yet during the
holiday season
we’re bombarded
with images of
social wealth.

Everything from: Family dinners, parties, drinks with friends, hugging, skating in pairs, walking together looking at lights, Secret Santa and gift exchanges, spontaneous snowballs fights, eating roasted chestnuts, and of course, people running into the arms of loved ones at airports…

But what if those things aren’t in your life?
The social media holiday barrage, Christmas FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), anticipointment (trademark?), Facebook, Instagram, TV, Google+, Twitter, MySpace (kidding, just wanted to see if you were paying attention) – all bursting with shiny images of happy people enjoying the holidays together. It can be overwhelming yet it’s only a day, like any other.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/

So if you find yourself less-than-surrounded by family and friends during the holidays, try to:

1. Marathon your way through the season, which apparently now begins in July with brief visits from other holidays. Don’t limit yourself to Christmassy stuff…be glad you’re not invited to a Game of Thrones Christmas party; see who survived (Christmas) on The Walking Dead; try to figure out what they’re cooking on Breaking Bad; or catch up with Mrs. Brown’s Boys (Dear Santa, I can explain…). Soon it will be January (sorry, I skipped ahead, was I wrong in assuming you don’t have anyone for New Year’s Eve either?), then you’ll have a few weeks to recover before the Valentine’s Day trauma begins, maybe.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/

2. Gently ‘add’ yourself to someone else’s Christmas or add someone to yours.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/
3. Find dating sites/apps and go on a holiday dating spree. Eggnog your way through stories about his/her ex, mom, ex’s mom, work, football, baseball, hockey, fashion, cars…Who knows, maybe you’ll find a Christmas miracle.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/

4. Adjust your expectations. Social media is one long high school reunion. Everyone is wearing their best outfit, just lost weight, and sharing only highlights of their life.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/
5. Read, write, blog, sing, bake, work, clean, declutter, exercise, sleep, go to a movie…flashback to the 70s – dance, wear turtlenecks, bellbottoms, ponchos, and go see Star Wars (or not). It’s all good.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/

6. Have a Single Christmas Party (not for singles, just you, be your own party).

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/
7. Ignore the season, the gaudy decorations, the commercialism, multiple Santas in multiple malls (unless you work there, try to stay out of the malls altogether) and create a Michael-Bublé-Bing-Crosby-Burl-Ives-free #safespace.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/
8. Start a new tradition with yourself or others, hopefully one that doesn’t involve eating your feelings (and don’t forget legal).

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/
9. Help others this season – the best way to keep your mind off your problems is to help others with their problems.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/
10. Under no circumstances drink too heavily, that could lead to calling, texting, or emailing an ex, or watching other people having family time, especially through their windows. Though oddly specific, it’s good advice.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/
It’s not about what you have, what you get, or even who you’re with, this season is about anything being possible.

Want to know how to get away with Christmas? Simple, enjoy the season and each day, not the way everyone tells you is enjoyable, but the way you enjoy it.

I triple dog dare you.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/

Author:

Very me

225 thoughts on “How To Get Away With Christmas”

  4. Brilliant post. Yes, Christmas has become, for many of us, an extremely stressful time, devoid of meaning and joy. I used to absolutely love it, honour its real meaning, but now … well I don’t know. Your post says it all.

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    1. I started feeling very Grinchy about Christmas and I’ve loved, loved, loved it since I was a tiny tot, so I started thinking of trying to ignore the commercialism of it and enjoying it for what it really is…it feels fun again. 🙂
      Thank you kindly for dropping by, hope this week is good to you. 🙂

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  6. The image you used for #4 makes me want to go out and watch Elf now. My son was just asking me yesterday, with me saying no … but maybe that’s a yes.

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  8. Dear Donna… You’re right — none of those things are in my life. Every year my coworkers drive me to the brink. It’s beyond their comprehension. I finally started telling them I was doing volunteer work — at least that made them question themselves. After a few years, they were over that though, so I have to make up increasingly elaborate stories. At least if they’re laughing they’re not pestering me and dredging and dragging me through my own personal pain, none of which is their business, and it’s not as if they actually give a crap — they’re just nosy. (You know it’s true, else you’re blessed to have never known such people.) So count me with Grumpy Cat and Cameron Diaz! 😀 “No! “Just no!”
    Mega hugs my friend, and thank you for this post.

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    1. I know, ‘The Cult of Busy’ kicks into high gear for the holidays. Their usual ‘what are you doing this weekend’ (heaven forbid if we ever dared to said ‘nothing much’) goes nuclear around Christmas. It’s too bad people can’t just accept or wow, what a concept, understand that people have different lives and stop pestering them.
      Thanks for dropping by, Teagan, how is the writing coming along, mine has stalled, but I’m feeling a little more writery today so we’ll see how it goes. 😉
      Megahugs my friend and hope this week is good to you. 🙂

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      1. Oh no… I’m sorry you’re having a bit of a stall. With me, it’s always the “real world” draining the ability, the wherewithall to write. So maybe just do whatever “sets you free”…

        For me (the writing snail) it’s going pretty well. I just rounded out a short scene, adding a touch to tie in a character with a small but important role. I have several small ideas to tie to existing text to improve a few places. Also a new scene in my head — thought it’s sketchy right now. (A character is about to have a temper tantrum of magical proportions.)
        Does that sound like a few hundred pages? Unfortunately it will only be a few! LOL Sigh…
        And a small pot of homemade chicken noodle soup that should be about ready for lunch. 😀

        Happy Sunday my friend. More hugs!

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      2. Yes, real life does tend to intrude on creativity – so rude! 😉
        I’m glad to hear it Teagan, well, it’s the details, sometimes the smallest that really pull a story together.
        Oh, a temper tantrum of magical proportions sounds delightful or dangerous or perhaps both.
        Enjoy your soup. I just made leftover veg into a curry that cleared out my sinuses – yogurt to the rescue! 😉
        Happy Sunday, dear one and megahugs for the whole week!!! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  13. We feel the same about New Years – a stupid expectation to go out an party. We order Chinese, hide away and watch fireworks around the world from the comfort of our own PJs! You had me at Santa’s honorary reindeer btw!

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  16. Adjust your expectations !! That really sums it up, doesn’t it ?? You had me at Daryl Dixon, but the rest of the post is such a delight. I have nightmares about December (also my birthday month…ugh). Please let me quote you on this one :
    “Social media is one long high school reunion. Everyone is wearing their best outfit, just lost weight, and sharing only highlights of their life.” ☺

    So glad to have found your blog, Donna. Carry on….

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      13. The detective in my new murder mystery is named Charlie Baker, and, because American troops are showing up in London for the war, and they have that phonetic alphabet, people start calling him Able Baker Charlie… HA!

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      14. I know, I’m reading it and it’s so good…a murder mystery in a war is so much more intriguing because so many are being murdered, but yours has quite a difference. 🙂

        Like

  18. I used to get a little depressed in the holiday season – trying to make everything perfect. Now I go to my daughters are let her stress – only she doesn’t really stress. I gotta stop stressing! As usual, a very lively post!

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  19. Great post. As you say, it IS only one day. The shops are only closed for that one day and yet I’m always amazed in the supermarkets seeing people piling trolleys so high with food it looks like they think the shops will never open again.

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  21. This is such a wonderful post, Donna! I find the expectations to have a perfect Christmas are all too-overwhelming. Every year it makes me feel less than others; this post gives us all permission to realize there are many other alternatives for happiness and that no one need feel that what we ‘think’ is the ‘right’ way to celebrate is the only way. I don’t think I know anyone who could meet society’s high view of itself anyway! Cher xo

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    1. Yes, Christmas should be about the comfort and joy, the fun, the feeling that anything is possible. I think part of the problem is the season is so stretched out now, it was better when it was just a couple of weeks. 🙂
      How are you doing, Cher? You look like you got a big hit of snow. We got some, but just enough to make it look pretty and it’s supposed to warm up over the next few days. Also saw the fire on the news. Chicago is hitting the news a lot, now for some good news. 🙂
      Take care, dear one and hope this day treats you kindly. 🙂
      Big hugs. xo 🙂

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  22. I have to say I’m worried Donna. I’m conscious that the taste police may be hovering. You have to understand that even hinting that you have watched Mrs Brown’s Boys for longer than the credits without being (a) drunk (b) in a PVS (c) trying a kind of televisual S&M is not just a civil offence but a full blown lock her away and lose the key type of crime. Please tell me you remain on the True Path to Enlightenment and have not strayed?

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    1. I didn’t say I was watching it, just that it was a marathon suggestion…although I have watched it, not for quite some years – I think I was (a) back then, but I vaguely remember it being amusing on some level, but with an overly loud laughtrack which is a pet peeve of mine, laughtracks, I don’t have to be told when to laugh and also, loud ones overshadow the next lines. My tastes are so eclectic I’m not sure what path I’m on most of the time… 😉

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  26. It’s just another day? Like Easter and Valentine’s day is it? Nooooo, it could be a miserable day when I think about being alone and remembering those lost or it could be a day for communicating with those wonderful friends I’ve got all over the world and reminding myself how lucky I am.
    I have my daughter and grandson who I’ll see probably on boxing day ( if she hasn’t gone into labour) but Christmas Day will be reserved for messages to my friends who I hope will be too busy (enjoying themselves) to read them that day and too lazy the next.
    Christmas is choc full of commercialism and for singles maybe it is a good idea to avoid the malls with their canned music but for anyone who has someone else it’s a magical time as you look for just the right gift.

    xxx Sending you Humongous Hugs Dear One xxx

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    1. A day where we do what works for us, right. 🙂
      Oh maybe Yvonne will have a Christmas baby, some people say that’s lovely, others that the birthday part is overshadowed, mine is closer to New Year’s Eve. Whatever day the little one joins us in the world I hope everything goes wonderfully for all. 🙂
      Messages, especially from someone as delightful as you, David, would make any day brighter. 🙂
      Thank you for sharing your week with me (and everyone) on your blog, dear friend and I hope this week treats you kindly. 🙂
      Massive happy hugs, Donna xo

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  27. I like this post, especially the bit about starting your own tradition. When I was a kid and we moved to Canada, it was strange to have our first Christmas without any extended family to visit (it was just the four of us – mum, dad, me and my brother). So we made our own tradition of pizza and Christmas movies on Christmas Eve (A Christmas Story is still a favourite) and it’s something we still do today, even though we’ve all moved back to the same country and have loads of family to visit. 🙂

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    1. That’s wonderful, Helen, we have the best time when we make the best of things…and pizza and Christmas movies sound awesome at any time. 😉
      Thanks for dropping by, hope this week treats you kindly. 🙂

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  28. One mustn’t for get that the season provides a wonderful opportunity for those who don’t do Christmas to moan about decorations, shopping hype, ads on the movies, and the neighbour’s cat – oh, sorry that one they do all year every year.

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    1. lol I just wish the season was a couple of weeks, like it used to be, then it would be more fun instead of commerce…as for the neighbour’s cat, well, it all depends on the cat and the neighbour. 😉

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  32. Loving a few new words here D, especially: anticipointment! Good one! Wonderful post, even with your welcomed entertainment, you make some very valid points. So much of the commercialism over-rates and inflates the emphasis on parties, spending and get togethers. Yes, it’s nice to have family, but as many of us know, there are plenty people, or at least one in every family who rolls their eyes when they have to spend a whole day with so and so at the gathering, another bright side to consider for the singles.
    Nice of you to shine light on the topic. 🙂 So sharing!

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    1. Thank you for your kind and wise words, Debby, yes, the holidays can be difficult in many ways unless we make them simpler. 🙂
      Thanks for popping over, hope this week is being good to you so far. 🙂

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  34. Christmas can make a person lonely for sure and there are ways to fill the moments. Great ideas here. I think volunteer work might top the list, then a good book and a good meal with the thought–I’m still here, I can still see the moon, hear the birds on awakening and find joy in every breath I take.

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  35. 😀 “Social media is one long high school reunion. Everyone is wearing their best outfit, just lost weight, and sharing only highlights of their life.” Truth. It’s just another day. Month. Month and a half… ❤

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  38. I love doing two things and they are at opposite ends of the spectum . 1. Sign up to help at soup kitchen or group home on the day of a holiday. 2. Plan something completely hedonistic- spa, favorite movie marathon, movie marathon while at a spa.

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  39. Ahhh – the Bah-Humbug season. Nothing gives me feelings of inadequacy quicker than the Christmas holidays. Every year I say ‘this year will be different’. It’s not. I’m resigned to that fact.
    It’s a question now of survival – and more wine 🙂

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  40. Hei! Thank You for visiting my blog, it’s important for me, because everything there is straight from my heart with aim to help others. Everyone else welcome in my blog as well to find Your savior.
    Author, keep working, nice blog! Have a nice day!

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  41. Great post, Donna. It’s the yearly November/December marathon! Number 9 is not only the key to the holidays, I think it’s the key to a happy life. Hope you enjoy yourself, however you celebrate 🙂

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    1. I just went to a Christmas bazaar, didn’t buy much, but it was fun…Now get back to those decorations – what’s your Christmas style? My style is what I call hodge-podge chic without a lot of chic, just lots of memories. 😉

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      1. I think we have the same style. Tree is up with lights on but ornaments will be put up by the kids one to two each every day starting today, until the tree is almost overloaded and then it’s Christmas. Outside deco will go up today, my husband is in charge of that. Some little decoration spread out over the house. Mini trees in the kids rooms. Done…

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    1. Thank you so much for reblogging this Jonathan. 🙂
      I’ve been ill so I’m playing catch up and you cheered me up by caring and sharing. 🙂
      Hope this weekend is treating you kindly so far. 🙂

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  46. Awesome! I knew, from your headline that we readers were in for a treat and we certainly were. This post is hilarious – I know several people who will find solace in it. (My fave: creating a Bing-Crosby-Michael-Bubble-Burl-Ives Free Zone.) Yet, you’ve given us a good message, too, meaning a person not alone in dreading the holidays and Facebook really is a throne of untruths.

    Also, you post The Best gifs. Maybe I asked before, but do you make these gifs?

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    1. Thank you kindly, I hope you find a #safespace 😉
      Alone isn’t something horrible, I guess maybe I like my own company, so I don’t see it as a hardship. 😉
      There are several free sites that help you make gifs and others that people have made and like sharing with the world cause, well, they’re funny. 🙂 Same goes for memes. 🙂
      Hope this weekend is treating you kindly. 🙂

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  48. Great post! I gave up on celebrating Christmas the way others do a while ago and I have to say it has been rather freeing. I still watch It’s a Wonderful Life over and over again and I will sing the occasional Christmas tune, but it is a stress-free, decoration-free event. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thank you kindly. 🙂
      I can see what you mean, I find myself doing less each year and enjoying it more and more. 🙂
      Hope this weekend is treating you well so far. 🙂

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    1. “Keep the change, ya filthy animal”…I love that movie! And ‘A Christmas Story’, ‘Elf’, ‘Scrooged’…ok, now I’ve just talked myself into watching more Christmas movies – it’s a loop, we’re trapped!!! 😉

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    1. Wow, Danny, I’m speechless (and that’s hard to do), thank you so much, not only for reblogging this – (how generous of you to reblog other bloggers while celebrating your blogiversary – Happy Blogiversary! Cheers and to many more years!), but for the kind words. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it and hope this weekend is treating you with great care. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. That’s weird, I wonder what would cause that? Probably some lovely WordPress glitch. Sorry about that, Ian, but that you so much for sharing it anyway, very kind of you. Hope this weekend treats you well. 🙂

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      5. For me, at age 70, retired and not working an hourly or salaried job with a boss—that could be a great person or a jerk (you never know until after you get hired, and I have worked for both types)—everyday is now a holiday.

        And when I was working–for the 45 years I got up to a cursed alarm clock and trudged off to the job, I was a teacher for thirty of those years, and holidays meant a break where I could catch up with my correcting and escape the relentless bells, politics and pressure that drive the school year.

        Holidays now mean not going out when everyone else is off work to celebrate because that means there are too many people out shopping, on the road making driving less safe, in the theater or out eating in a restaurant creating crowded situations and long lines. I now tend to stay home on holidays and go out when most people are in school or working.

        :o)

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      6. I understand. I work hard at always shopping during off hours and less busy days, same goes fro movies, etc., to me, I just enjoy things more with less. 🙂

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  56. I hear so many of these laments/refrains from friends during the holiday season and I always say to them – – jokingly 🙂 – – you could convert to Judaism with me? 🙂

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  57. HA! Fantastic. Not the TRIPLE DOG DARE!

    I always find myself thinking this time of year that there’s something automatically poignant about the sparkly decor piped in Christmas music in the stores this time of year, and not necessarily in a good way – like if you were making a TV special and you needed to jerk some tears in one scene, you could pull it off way too easily by sending your sad and lonely character into any major department store at this time of year. Good stuff against that dark-underbelly-of-the-holidays thing you’ve got here!

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    1. Yes, I pulled out the Triple Dog Dare! 😉
      You’re so right, it’s a conditioned response, but it can also mean something too. 🙂
      Hope this week is treating you kindly. 🙂

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    1. Thanks so much for sharing it and the awesome shout-out on LinkedIn. You really made my day! 🙂
      I’m going with the Douglas Adams thing on this one, I could never get the hang of Thursday and this one for sure…maybe Friday will make more sense, er, probably not. 😉
      Thanks again Teagan, hope the rest of the week treats you well. 🙂
      Megahugs!!! 🙂

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    1. The eeling is mutual! Thank you kindly for the reblog. Hope you can pop back and leave some links (as many as 12) so others may find your blog. 🙂
      Thanks again and hope this weekend treats you well.

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  61. This is such a great post! Especially for those of us who don’t have families. I co-sign on number 10….too much drinking = texts/calls you’ll regret tomorrow! #AnythingGoes

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  62. I extra Tripple Dog Dare you to go out and do the same Donna, So very right, we can do whatever the heck pleases us without worrying about what others are up to or think about 🙂 Merry Christmas to you too and Thanks for sharing at the Pit stop!

    Julie Syl

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  63. Pingback: Dear Santa, I Can Explain…12 Links of Christmas Blog Party – @yadadarcyyada | ' Ace Social & Media News '

    1. Thank you so much for sharing this Ian and I hope you can drop back and share some of your links for others to find you. Thanks again and hope this week is treating you well so far. 🙂

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  64. Pingback: The Weekly Headlines – My Daily Musing

    1. Wow, thank you so much for including so many of my links!!! Very kind of you and a great way to spread the Christmas joy! And I’m in terrific company! Happy Holidays and all the best in 2017! 🙂

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  65. Pingback: Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animals! — yadadarcyyada – muddled musings of a mangled mind

    1. Thank you kindly for the delightful reblog, Roger, I appreciate it so much more than words can say. 😊
      Hope this week treats you well. 😊
      Merry Christmas and to a delight-filled 2018!!! 🎄🎄🎄

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  66. Nice! I am a big fan of Christmas, but I have decided to spend Christmas Eve alone this year. Just me and my cat in a sofa surrounded by books. I’m so looking forward to it! A quiet night in before all the hustle and bustle of family, parties, Christmas dinners, …

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    1. That sounds absolutely delightful, you’ve ‘booked’ some time with you and your furry loved ones, I love nights like that. Do you have specific books or a pile to get through (I love that saying, “I was born with a reading list I will never finish” – but I can have a great time trying!). Have a lovely time, all through the holidays and all the year through! 🙂

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      1. Haha my to read list is never ending. I’ll probably end up reading one from my new pile and another reread. Depends on my mood that day 🙂

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    2. You are not alone. Years ago I turned away from the holiday mania and during the frenzy of the holidays, I spend even more time in books, watching movies and working on projects around the house instead of being out there in the gridlock of roads and waiting in long lines at check out counters in overcrowded stores. During the winter and spring breaks when school is out for Christman, New Year and Easter, I avoid leaving home as much as possible.

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      1. Yeah me too, public transport is a nightmare then! I enjoy the Christmas spirit from mid-November through mid-December and then I enkoy nights in, with the occassional family event for variation 🙂

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  70. The social media – high school analogy is good; really good 🙂 People usually post only highlights. Lowlights are nowhere to be found. Believing someone lives only the best life creates silly expectations for your life, your Christmas, every day, really. Wise words here. Keep up the great blogging work.

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