You’re okay, Ale. The holidays are whatever. Don’t paint a picture in your head of everyone living their best holiday life except you. You’ve got 11 days off from work. Enjoy it. Give yourself treats. Get a cozy set of lounge clothes or a sweater in a sale. Get your nails done. Hang out with your parents a bit. Read good books. See a movie. Cook something if you want. Sleep. It’s okay.

@Ale I was always in the same boat (my family doesn’t really keep in touch or celebrate holidays for the most part). Realized eventually that holidays are what you make them. They don’t have to be anything. I started putting stuff together like caroling before all my friends took off out of town. And now it’s usually just me and anyone who can’t be with family for whatever reason, watching Christmas movies. One year it was me watching Christmas movies and taking a bubble bath and drinking a bottle of champagne. Just decide to do things you enjoy.

Happy holidays, all
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@ale I created my own traditions with friends when I stayed away from home for the holidays. Find something you love and make it your own. Sometimes family is not the best option.

On a side note…. I have 3 dresses in contention and I can’t decide.

@Ale I think the holidays are really lonely for a lot of people. I spent Christmas with just my nuclear family (extended family lives far away) and my parents are separated and don’t get along. It’s our first holiday season with them living separately, but we still got together as a family for dinners and it was incredibly awkward. I felt lonely. I think it’s normal (or at least within the realm of normal). So I try not to spend too much time thinking about what other people are doing or on social media, cause I know it’ll make me feel worse. I’m trying to use my days off of work to do stuff that makes me happy. For me, that’s watching cheesey movies I love (Legally Blonde is playing in the background as I write this and unpack), cooking, playing with my pup. I’ll likely sign up to volunteer at the animal rescue once or twice. I just got back into the city I live in, and it’s COLD (omg is it cold), so I’m pretty happy to hibernate. So, yeah, basically it’s okay to feel lonely, but try not to focus on how merry everyone else seems (cause chances are, they’re not all merry all the time) and treat yo-self.

Hope everyone’s holidays have been wonderful as well! I went up to my home state (3 states north) with my dog to celebrate Christmas with my family.

On Christmas day, I got a text from the guy who lives in LA that I hooked up with 2 years ago on Christmas – he was in town visiting his family. I drove home yesterday to see him and apparently now I have a FWB I get to see on Christmas! Haha. He’s a lot of fun and it was great to see him. We had an awesome time together.

Big news! On Thursday before Christmas I signed a new job offer! It’s the same type of role but a more senior title, more senior responsibilities and a HUGE raise. I will give my notice on Tuesday when I go back to work. I fully intend to be overwhelmed with work for the next 6 months or so, but when I resurface I’d like to go back to LA (I wanted to do that this year, but no dice) to visit a good friend who also lives there, visit my FWB, and see some comedy shows/go to the Comedy Store. 2018 is looking fun!

@veritek33 It was SO creepy! I obviously don’t think Debra deserved what happened to her (or her family) at all, but I was so exasperated with her. Some of her actions were breathtakingly stupid, and I wondered where she was at mentally/emotionally that she couldn’t see through him. (I would’ve blocked his creeper ass after how their first date ended.) But since so many women fell for John, I do believe he was as charming as she says. Which is scary. And so is knowing that people like John exist. Online dating seems pretty mainstream now, but I think it generally has a reputation for being less safe. I disagree that it’s inherently less safe, but knowing the advantages it has for psychopaths like John is unnerving. On a happier note, I love that there are people like Skylar Sepulveda out there — and she was only 14!