How many people spend Christmas alone?

[Cryptid]

Yes and no. No matter how many people are around me at Christmas, I still feel alone.

Just to clarify: I did not post this for the attention or to make people feel sorry for me. I posted it because that's just how it is with me -- I could be in Time's Square on New Year's Eve and still feel alone. I know it's weird, but as I said, that's just how it is with me.

 

[Progster]

I'm alone this Christmas, as I was last year. Christmas is just like another Sunday for me. I like the quiet on these days and the fact that I have a day off work, but dislike the disruption it causes - many days over a two week period where everything is shut and nothing moving.

 

[Outdated]

....but dislike the disruption it causes - many days over a two week period where everything is shut and nothing moving.

It's worse here. It's also the beginning of the summer school holidays so there's kids everywhere and any parent that can afford to takes the month off as well. The whole country basically takes a month long siesta.

 

[AndyFBlues]

The older I get, the more I like to spend the day alone. It can be a bit too much for me sometimes. I enjoy seeing family members, but the holiday seems to give me an extra layer of stress and anxiety. The more laid-back a gathering is, the more comfortable I'll feel. I also don't like to travel during the holidays. When I do, I try to go out on days when the roads are less crowded.

I used to know a family who would open their gifts and just hang out at home. For Christmas dinner, they'd get some Chinese take-out. That seems like a relaxed way to spend the holiday.

 

[Ken]

Just to clarify: I did not post this for the attention or to make people feel sorry for me. I posted it because that's just how it is with me -- I could be in Time's Square on New Year's Eve and still feel alone. I know it's weird, but as I said, that's just how it is with me.

Me too. Being in the company of others is when I feel the most lonely. I think that's because my "weirdness" and difference from others feels spotlighted. When alone, there is no one to see, compare or judge me, so I can comfortably be me.

Sometimes, if I'm in a crowded shopping center or something like that where I can feel totally detached from the crowd and not feel any eyes on me, that's not as bad. Still, that is more lonely than when alone.