It’s that time of year again. The pressure is on to make it through the holidays without losing your mind. You’ve already got presents to shop for, meals to plan and a house to clean. By the time December 24 rolls around, you feel like you’re running on fumes.
The last thing you want to do is overthink how you’re going to spend Christmas Eve. But when the holidays are in full swing and everybody else has plans, it’s easy to feel like the odd man out if your family doesn’t live near you or they already have plans with other friends.
So what do you do? How can you enjoy this special night without feeling like a loser? How should you not celebrate Christmas Eve as an adult? Here are some ideas:
Don’t go to the office party.
You know it’s going to be awful, with the same people you see every day, but you’ll be expected to drink anyway. If you don’t, everyone will think you’re a Scrooge (or worse). And if you do, everyone will remember that time when you got really drunk and said something inappropriate about your boss’s wife.
Don’t go to church.
Being in a big crowd can be fun for a few minutes, but after that it’s just boring and stuffy. “What does this all mean?” is a question the Bible never intended to answer. Most churches have services that last much longer than necessary because they need something else for their volunteers and staff members to do besides work on Sunday morning. And then there’s the music — listening to someone sing “O Come All Ye Faithful” while playing “Little Drummer Boy” on an electric guitar is like seeing an entire symphony orchestra perform an overture by Beethoven on kazoos: It doesn’t make any sense at all.
Don’t stay home alone.
As an adult, Christmas Eve is a time to reflect on the past year and the coming one. The holiday season is also a great time to catch up with loved ones, both old and new.
Don’t go overboard with your plans for the evening.
Remember that it’s just one night, and there will be plenty of other opportunities for you to have fun with people throughout the holidays and beyond.
Try not to spend too much time worrying about what others think about your plans.
If you want to watch Elf or It’s A Wonderful Life by yourself on Netflix, go ahead. You deserve some downtime after all of your work this year.
Don’t let Christmas Eve stress you out too much;
instead, try focusing on enjoying yourself and spending quality time with family members who may be visiting from out of town (or across town).
Don’t wait until everyone else arrives before starting your first drink (or two).
Your goal should be to get buzzed enough that you stop caring what anyone else thinks about your behavior — but not so drunk that you end up making an ass of yourself in front of all your friends and family members who aren’t as wasted as you are. This can happen very quickly if people start showing up late and everyone else is already drunk when they arrive.