Single bells

Celebrating the holiday season without a significant other

Image by: Emma Sewell
No significant-other during the holidays? No problem.

Being single during the holidays is one cliché I’m ready to embrace.  

After several years in relationships, I’m brushing the dust off my spinster calendar, because this year is my first single Christmas. From what I’ve seen in holiday rom-coms like Love Actually — I’m in for a wild ride. 

Being single during the holidays sounds pretty bad. Doesn’t it just paint a picture of a withering widow wearing a Santa hat, clutching mistletoe and cry-singing to “My Only Wish This Year” by Britney Spears?

I come from a very large Italian family with little to no respect for personal boundaries. All my cousins and siblings are older and married, except for me and my brother. At family gatherings, I’m often asked, “so how’s your boyfriend?” and “where is he?”. 

They just assume I have a boyfriend. I mean, I know it’s a shock that a woman of my calibre might be single, but did they ever think it might be my choice? That my most recent break-up might have been the best thing that’s happened to me? Sometimes I say, “He’s working late at the hospital. It’s hard being a surgeon.” Other times I pretend I’m hard of hearing. Once, I said “I don’t have one” and my Nonna cried. So, never again. 

My parents are quite happy with my singledom. I think it’s because last Christmas I barely saw them, and being single apparently means I’m free all the time. In previous years, my love life always picked up during the holiday season. I’m talking movie dates, dinner dates, cute little snowy walks through the park. Getting whisked off to my then-boyfriend’s chalet for a week. Now, my parents don’t know what to do with me, probably because they haven’t seen me in about three years. 

This year, being single around the holidays is one of life’s greatest joys. I don’t have to share my Christmas fudge with anyone. I don’t have to buy my nonexistent boyfriend another sweater. 

I don’t have to feign interest over Far Cry 4. I can drink an entire litre of eggnog by myself, while singing Mariah Carey, and binge watching “How to Get Away with Murder”. 

Of course there’s also a downside to being single during the holidays, such as buying my own damn chocolate bark this year. My Nonna will probably cry again. I don’t have any New Year’s kiss commitments (or is this a pro?). No one to hold my hand while watching holiday rom-coms (possibly another pro?). 

I’d love to say that the holidays are a great time to meet a significant other, but that’s probably not true. The holidays are a great time to be without a boyfriend/girlfriend, and if not for the many pros I listed above, just for purely selfish reasons. This year I will be spending my entire holiday with my friends and family. No one else’s friends, and no one else’s family.

If that’s not a reason to chug a litre of eggnog, I’m not sure what is.

 

Tags

Holidays, love, relationship, single

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