Family at Christmas

Most of these dilemmas would not occur if we and the media all stopped hyping Christmas so much. It is easier to just think of it as another day.

My DD and children live 50 miles away over the hills so there is always a potential for bad weather closing off the roads.

DD is a nurse and has worked shifts over Christmas. (she is on maternity leave at present).

Her Mil lives around the corner from them and DDs sister in law and young kids come over from Holland where they live and it is good for the cousins to meet up.
So I am not likely to see them on Christmas day but we just do Christmas with DD as near to Christmas day one side or other of the day when she can get here.
It's me and him left at home and him is not exactly communicative company.
A good jigsaw can keep me occupied.

I so agree about the media hype adding to the emotional baggage of Christmas. Being home alone can be a depressing prospect, but only if we let it. If it is truly unavoidable, then a plan B could be to spoil yourself with all your favourite food and drink, watch your way through a box set which doesn't mention Christmas, celebrate with the family before or after if that suits them better, perhaps reinvent the "12 days of Christmas" where the festivities don't start until Christmas Day and end on Twelfth Night. You could plan a "treat" for each day, including sharing time with the family but also doing things you want to do.
Others have stressed the importance of getting things in perspective, sorting it in our own minds and finding a way through which doesn't cause bitterness or feelings of guilt.
Contrary to what we see on TV the rest of the country is unlikely to be sitting down to a Dickensian feast with a 20lb turkey, smiling happy children, a serene domestic goddess, an immaculate house looking like something out of Selfridges Christmas windows and carols wafting through the air.

How about a Christmas starting with a Christmas Eve Carol service or midnight service if you have transport and can lie in. Buy a stocking now and in the 29 days left (sorry to mention it) buy a little something every day and wrap it for yourself and put it in the stocking( a magazine you wouldn't normally buy,an unusual chocolate,a miniature liqueur,a glittery eyeshadow,nail varnish a cd or DVD out of your usual comfort range) if you wrap and put in the stocking and pretend it's for your best friend(you) and you will have saved money by not going away then you can splash a little. Think out of the box as they say for lunch on your own,fillet steak for one as you're not buying a turkey and perhaps a retro prawn cocktail, followed by a Heston Bloomington small pud. Dress up or down as suits you. Invite people round for Boxing Day drinks/ coffee as your house will be lovely and tidy and they will be glad to get out of their house. Someone earlier suggested the op went out and got a man . Not sure after a divorce that is the solution but I read in the Times this morning about something called Stitch which is described as Tinder for seniors. This is off the top of my head wondering what I would do. But I'd probably sew all day