Drinking vs. Dating Through the Holidays

There are a few ways of looking at how you will spend your time from Thanksgiving to New Years. Most people see these months as a time to be close to those who are special in their life. You can easily imagine couples curled up on the couch watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas” right next to the fireplace. Christmas tree lights are glimmering in the background. The scent of Cinnamon Spice candles burning on the side table. You start to get that joyful sense of the Holidays...

Forget all that. You are single.

The picturesque image of you curled up on a couch with someone special seems as likely as you getting a raise at the Bank.

You have a month of Holiday parties, events and get-togethers you must endure before everything goes back to normal.

You now have two choices:

Find someone random to ride the Holiday spirit with;

or,

Weather the storm alone, bottle in hand.

This year I have chosen the latter and it has proven to be an interesting ride. Years prior I usually followed Alfie’s creed of “always have someone between Thanksgiving and New Years” (2004 movie with Jude Law).

Both have their ups and downs.

Dating through the Holidays requires you to find someone first. For some, this alone can prove to be difficult. For others, finding someone that you enjoy spending all that extra time with is another challenge. They usually have to meet your family prematurely. That is always weird. Your friends ask the dumb question, “how long have you two been together?”, when they already know the answer. You reply, embarrassed. “Oh, about a week”. And then there is the gift buying... and then the cheesy sweet compliments... and then the false sense of romance... etc, etc.

Finally, in the end, there is always the awkward breakup at the end of the Holidays when relationships start to downshift towards the Summer.

On the bright-side, it is cold outside and having someone to spoon with is a great way to stay warm at night. I can’t really think of anything else.

OR, the alternative.

Stay single and enjoy it.

Think about a month or so of endless parties with free booze and all the pigs in a blanket you can possibly eat. Why spoil all that fun and memories with someone making only a cameo appearance in your life? Enjoy it. Revel in it. Be single!