Alone again... naturally...for the holidays? (meal, movies, friends, years)
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I get what you're saying, galaxyhi. But I've worked for several non-profits including The Salvation Army. I can assure you they aren't going to give you the names of their client families. Those folks deserve their privacy.
I have VERY little family. When I was single, I ALWAYS preferred staying home alone fir Thanksgiving and Christmas. I found that to be much more comfortable than being with someone else's family. Their shared history made me feel completely bereft and alone.
When I married at 40, I found that DH didn't care about the holidays at all. He was perfectly happy staying home having me cook something expensive and luxurious.
Then we moved to a new construction home in a neighborhood filled with senior citizens like ourselves. We developed friendships VERY quickly and several have become what I believe will be lifelong friends. We all spend those holidays together. It's the first time in my life I look forward and enjoy the holidays.
I don't consider spending the holidays with my spouse being alone. Alone means just you. It's never been just me so I don't know exactly how I would handle it. Churches celebrate Christmas and even groups that you volunteer with normally have holiday celebrations.
In our case, our kids will be home for the holidays. I'll cook a nice holiday spread. The house will be decorated both inside and out. Gifts will be under the tree, stockings hung on the fireplace mantle. My mom will come over and spend the day with us. Last year we traveled to see my husband's side of the family. My mom enjoyed spending the day with her friends in her Independent Living residence and we celebrated Christmas with her once we got back.
When our kids are married and possibly spread all over the country, my husband and I will still celebrate. We might order a premade Thanksgiving dinner or get a table top tree instead of the big, live tree that we've always gotten. I don't know. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. If we are living in a 55+ retirement community we might even have friends over. Of course, our kids and their families will always be welcome to come home for the holidays. Some years we might travel to see them. We'll have to see what the future brings.
I always worked holidays and got time-and-a-half and people brought me food and appreciated my working for them. This is my fourth "holiday season" in retirement and they're pretty much non-events as ever.
The people next door bring their kids over in costumes for me to see. They have family and all for the official holidays.
I think we should have lights and food all year long.
I'm about ready to make the first time in a lifetime decision to spend the holidays alone with my disabled son. Despite having an elderly parent, aunts & uncles, nine older kids & eight grandchildren.
He just can't be safe around people. I've got one more trick up my sleeve & will wait to call it until after I've tried it.
I always worked holidays and got time-and-a-half and people brought me food and appreciated my working for them. This is my fourth "holiday season" in retirement and they're pretty much non-events as ever.
The people next door bring their kids over in costumes for me to see. They have family and all for the official holidays.
I think we should have lights and food all year long.
My kids will be getting time and a half on Thanksgiving. We'll be fitting our dinner in between their work schedules.
It used to be that employers would pay DOUBLE time for working the holidays and time and a half for working over 40 hrs/week. I used to work those double time hours every chance that I got and my work weeks always went over 40hrs/wk so overtime was always a factor in my pay. When did they get rid of double time pay for the holidays?
My mother was always the "hub" for family events: Thanksgiving, Christmas, sometimes birthdays, but she finally died last year in her 90's. Her house is gone & all her 3 sons are living currently as singletons with our separate lives. I am further away from their suburban county but I'm in a stable place, my long time apartment home, while they are both in newish rentals & in transitory periods.
But I'm in a dense urban environment they don't like - they hate trying to park here since they live in the land of endless parking lots & empty streets while I don't even own a vehicle & commuting by train for over an hour (with food?) isn't a joy, neither would be spending hundreds of dollars to rent a car just so they wouldn't have to be bothered to find a parking space here.
We will probably figure something out, I will probably commute out to at least one, negotiations have started. I spent many years in distant locations where I spent either Thanksgiving/Christmas sometimes alone, no biggie for me.
It used to be that employers would pay DOUBLE time for working the holidays and time and a half for working over 40 hrs/week. I used to work those double time hours every chance that I got and my work weeks always went over 40hrs/wk so overtime was always a factor in my pay. When did they get rid of double time pay for the holidays?
I worked in a large hospital system and was paid by the hour. I don't remember any double time. There was no union, so quantitative decisions just came down from on high.
It’s yet another holiday in that long stretch of commercial crassness running from Halloween through Valentine’s Day.
My husband and I will do dinner ourselves, which I don’t consider “alone.” Truly alone feels different from couple alone; I’ve had several like that even after marriage, due to travel-related separations.
What I miss is the Thanksgiving and Christmas meals when we used to go to dim sum restaurants. They were almost the only restaurants open those days, and we love dim sum. They were always busy, too!
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