The Solo Christmas

This past Saturday, I attended my work holiday party. It was a lovely affair (I hope others agreed) and it was kind of a nice way to kick off the Christmas season for me. My team at work plans it. At about 2 p.m. Friday we crossed that pre-event line where there is nothing you can do anymore to make the event any better and you can actually start cautiously looking forward to it. The party is always basically what I think planning a wedding would be like, minus the white dress, the groom and wedding party. And the fact that it happens every year - that shouldn't happen with your wedding. I am pretty lucky to work for a guy and a company that still sees value in doing things like this for the employee base. A lot of companies don't any more, period, or they have scaled things back significantly. I wish more people I worked with appreciated how fortunate we are to have something like this. But I digress.

Last Christmas I went home to Ontario. It was the first time in about seven years I made the trek back to Toronto and surrounding area. It was a nice, albeit a little too drawn out trip (and an ice storm halfway through!). It's always nice to be home with family. This year however, I am returning back to the regularly scheduled program of staying in Calgary. The difference this time around though will be that I likely will just be hanging out with the hounds and cats. And I'm excited about it!

Being that its getting closer to Christmas, a lot of conversations at work, at exercise classes and elsewhere else you can think of, are turning to what people are doing for Christmas. Some people are going on vacation or they are trekking back to wherever they came from to enjoy time with their family or perhaps their in-laws. A few people are hosting their own big holiday feast. All awesome.

I'm trying hard to stay out of the conversations. Because when I do have to answer, people seem to struggle with the fact that I am staying here, and "worse", hanging out alone. (Anyone who has encountered tales of my zoo would appreciate that it is very difficult to feel alone in my house).

Much like the "single" thing, people seem to instantly feel the need to fix the "Solo-Christmas problem". It's lovely and well meaning, but completely unnecessary. And here is why: this is my first Christmas in my new house. I'm excited to decorate, figure out where to put the tree and procrastinate about putting lights up. I've pre-ordered a turkey from the ranch I buy meat from. I'm going to cook a turkey dinner complete with stuffing, veggies, wine and a side of Christmas crackers and paper hats (look out hounds, you are wearing hats!). I will call my family, open presents and listen to Christmas music. I will probably talk to a few friends too.

I am choosing to do it this way. And I'm okay with it.  I've had 39 fabulous Christmases filled with family, pets, room-mates, "in-laws", friends and even one where we fed a TTC driver. This one will be a great Christmas and I know I will enjoy my day, just as everyone else will enjoy their plans too. I'll likely hang out in my comfy clothes, watch a movie or two and snuggle with the dogs, drinking coffee with Baileys. After all, Christmas, like any other holiday or special day, is what you make of it.