(This was originally posted on Craigslist 12/24/2001. I’m not the author but it helped me during a sad time in my life so I post it every year on behalf of the real author in the hopes that it might help someone else.)
Christmas bums me out. I have no family, and most of my friends have died. I have no place to go for a friends & family & tree dinner and day of Yule Tide Spirits. However, I won’t pule about my misery. I’ve done this for the past four years and it works for me.
But. This is what I do to make Christmas bearable for me.
Preface this with saying that this Christmas looks like it’s going to be nice weather, so no reason to sit isolated at home!
OK? These are just my things. Think of some of your own, too.
1. Get out of your apartment.
2. Take a walk.
3. Ride MUNI somewhere neat. The drivers aren’t happy about working Christmas, so be nice to them and greet them with “Merry Christmas,” and thank them for the transfer. Make eye contact with other passengers and smile.
4. Go to different parts of town you’ve not been to.
5. Round up some of that spare change you have in a jar or such … carry it around with you and give it to panhandlers and watch their surprize … sure, let ’em buy a beer or cigs or whatever. It’s Christmas for them, too. Who am I to judge?