Sometimes, like this morning, I wish I was.
Listen to the radio. Put on some good music that you love.
Do something good for someone. Give to the charity of your choice.
And remember that God knows all and sees all. God is love.
Several years ago I spent a few Christmases alone. It was fine.
My wife and I have been married for 33 years now, and we’ve only spent maybe four Christmases with others; all the rest were just her and me. Very relaxing; very comfortable.
But memories of those Christmases are not bad. The Christmas of 1984, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton and I took a walk up and down Oceanside Beach just after sunrise. I was quite literally the only one on the beach. The walk invigorated me. I went back to my room and listened to Christmas music and then watched a couple movies in the rec room with a couple other Marines (who were Jewish!). Then we went to the mess hall where they laid out a feast for the few of us that were there. Afterwords, I spent the rest of the night in my room alone reading "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens with a bottle of amaretto while Christmas music played. It was really one of the nicest, tranquil Christmases I ever had.
As for dysfunctional families, I definitely have them. On my side and my wife's side. My wife and I are pretty level headed people so we feel like the eye of the hurricane as we go to family functions and see all the turmoil churning around us. It's actually entertaining. Eventually people will come sit with us and tell us we are the only sane people there.
Kind of odd that someone would sign up to post a "I'm lonely on Christmas" vanity and use the same theme as a screen name - sounds kind of emotionally crippled/socially misfit to me.
Please take it with a grain of salt, two aspirin and a bottle of Jim Beam.
Now for a short public service announcement to all on FR:
We need to ensure we don't get another Obama-like America Hater as the next President.
The best way to ensure that is to actively support a candidate as the next President.
I prefer Cruz and my money goes to his campaign, hence the Cruz link. If you like someone else, donate to him/her (find your own link to do it) and if you use FR and don't donate, then please don't complain about the welfare leeches or those who have Obama Phones because, functionally, you are no different than any other FReeloader
PS - If you are one of those who cannot afford even a small donation to FR or a candidate, God Bless and happy FReeping!.....
GO CRUZ!! Keep it up Trump!!
Quit blatting about being alone on Christmas.
All these really good compassionate people offer words of comfort and reach out to you and you have not responded with a single “Thank You”.
NOT sorry to be so blunt, but I think you are a troll.... playing on your new computer that your mommy gave to you as an early Christmas present.
Seriously, I hope you Christmas sucks.
Why not visit your local children’s hospital and read stories, sing songs, or otherwise entertain the kids, just get screened in advance because there is probably an approval process.
Or visit a senior center and talk with them, play chess, or otherwise bring them some cheer. I have done both for Christmas and it’s great. It is the opposite of loneliness.
Sounds like you are deliberately trying to feel sorry for yourself. Stop feeling like you are the only one who spends a holiday alone and buck up. If your family is dysfunctional, that is your problem, not that you have to spend a Christmas alone in your apartment.
Count your blessings and don't dwell on what you don't have. Get out and go to a restaurant or see a movie or go on a long walk. Better yet, volunteer at a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen on Christmas day. Life won't seem so tough if you don't dwell on your own circumstances and can see how much better off you are than many other people.
Merry Christmas.
Having said that, one of my all time favorite Christmas images may be appropriate here;
One thing I do like for early Christmas morning is to step outside and ENJOY the quiet. Let that peace and quiet steep in your bones and let God in for a quiet conversation.
PEACE!
I will have my mother in law over.
Being alone doesn’t sound all that horrible.
I will be drinking.
Drink and FReep or FReep and drink.
Concentrate on the REASON for the SEASON.
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
You are never alone. The LORD is only a prayer away.
Welcome to Free Republic. Merry Christmas and it sounds more like a peaceful Christmas away from strife.
First of all, I suspect that you may be a long-time FReeper by another name, who wants to be anonymous while asking for help. You must have seen something worthy in us FReepers to have chosen us to ask this of..... thank you for the compliment, I hope we can live up to your confidence in us.
Do you know that in asking us to respond to you, that you are causing us to give thought to the real meaning of Christmas? I know that I am always so busy this time of year that these still quiet moments of reflection on why we celebrate Christmas are amazingly precious.
While making Merry with friends and family is always fun, and doing volunteer work (as many FReepers have suggested) will make your soul sing, always remember that it is the still quiet times that you spend with our Lord that bring you closer to Him and allow Him to work in your life. If you have not yet found that close relationship with Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit, then, my FRiend, this may just be the time you need to open that door that He is knocking on and let Him in to your heart. If your not sure how to do that, take comfort, it’s easy, just reach out to Him, He is waiting on you to do that and will indeed hear you calling on His name. If you already know Him, then take this quiet alone time to get to know Him better. It will change your life. Perhaps he has given you this Christmas alone so that you can spend it with Him. Merry Christmas, and may this be your “best” one ever. It can be, you know, it is all up to YOU.
Welcome to FR.
Christmas Blessings.
Go buy that Shotgun You’ve wanted and pretend to be Elmer Fudd
Sometimes volunteering might not help either. That’s ok. Another thing you can do is to use the silence to contemplate what the day means. Not superficially. Not the presents and Santa part - do that next year.
What was God’s relationship to mankind before that day? What would it be like without it? Read the Bible. Read the saints. Take a break and watch the Nativity Story. Go to a Protestant church. Go to a Catholic Mass. (Do both). Pray.
Actually, it all can be prayer. Focus on thinking and feeling God all day long.
My family is severely dysfunctional.
I was and have been very, very content to spend quiet Christmases the past several decades.
I did it by accepting that I was making a choice to stop the insanity and to choose something different. To choose that Christmas means something more than wine, alcohol, fights, and broken dreams.
On Christmas Eve, after getting my work done, I come home and prepare a wonderful dinner of shrimp scampi, baked potato, veggie and a salad. I sit down with a glass of wine at the back of the house overlooking the gardens. I thank God for my meal and then enjoy it. Often without Christmas music playing, just the peaceful silence. You know, it might have been like this for the shepherds watching over their flocks that night. I read my Bible and then go to mass later.
Christmas Day I get up early to go back to mass. I mean, He is the reason for the season, right.
I come home and make my favorite breakfast(sausage gravy and biscuits), then head out for a long day of pet sitting. Taking Santa Paws treats to all my charges of the day. Clients usually leave small token gifts which I bring home to open later. Sometimes somebody will leave a note to help myself to the ham in the fridge and enjoy a sandwich or two. Sort of like they left something for Santa...LOL.
Dinner is usually again a quiet meal taken in gratefulness and prayer, this time with Christmas music playing.
You’ve made a difficult choice to stop the mayhem of the Christmas Holiday, now I am telling you it is OK to create your own traditions of celebration. I am immensely content with mine, may the Lord show you yours.
God Bless and Merry Christmas
Don't mind the snarky replies - I think we are all on short fuses because we are witnessing the unfolding destruction of Western civilization. But Mr. Robinson has assured me that he will have his new Thorazine shipment in soon.
Christmas means that you are never, ever, ever alone, nor will you ever be. HE will be with you always, until the end of the age. The light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has never mastered it.
God bless us all, every one!
ib4z?
Get over it.
There are plenty of places to go volunteer. Give of yourself...that is the key to all joy