Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Not All Chistmases Are Merry

Holidays can be tough if you are single. Since I didn’t marry until age 43, I know.

Sure, I can get saturated now with Christmas celebrations, but there was the time:

—I was sick in Pittsburgh and had Christmas dinner at a Stouffer’s restaurant by myself, consoled by a sympathetic waiting staff.

—A visiting colleague became ill in Las Vegas and we had Thanksgiving dinner at a cheap diner. He was so sick that he didn’t even remember it later.

—In Washington, I had nowhere to go until I practically invited myself to someone’s Christmas dinner at a Christmas Eve service.

—In the 24-hour-a-day news business, I was assigned to work some Christmases by bosses who figured single people didn’t have a family anyway.

—I enjoyed Christmas with some friends in Delaware until one of the kids climbed into a car on a hilly driveway. Somehow, he released the emergency brake and crashed the car into another across the street. That can ruin a party!

—But then there was another time in Dover, Del., when I

 went to Christmas dinners on three consecutive nights. People were friendly and charitable to a 21-year-old near-stranger.

   At least I have been guaranteed company of some kind in the 38 years I have been married. While over-exuberant celebrations may irritate me on a holiday, some people may be having Christmas dinner alone in a restaurant like Stouffer’s.


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