7 Christmas Traditions to Embrace While Single

Who says singles need to dread Christmastime?

While being single at Christmas comes with its share of strain—family parties where you’re the 11^th wheel, watching all your friends enjoy holiday bliss with their sweetheart while you stand alone below the mistletoe—the Christmas season is actually the perfect time to embrace your singlehood! The freedom you have as a single person allows you to delve deeper into the miracle of Christmas, in ways that a married person might not.

If you’re looking for ways to embrace the Christmas season by making a gift of your singlehood, look no further! Here are seven traditions you can start this Christmas season (which, by the way, begins on the 24th and lasts quite a while).

1. Attend Midnight Mass.

While your local parish may not offer a midnight Mass on Christmas Eve (many don’t anymore), ask around at the parishes nearby, chances are at least one of them has Midnight Mass. This beautiful tradition is one that married people with young children often have to skip (for obvious reasons!). Embrace your ability to greet the Christmas season in this beautiful, peace-filled manner!

2. Bake for others.

Pull out grandma’s secret fudge or sugar cookie recipe and spend an afternoon in the kitchen preparing festive treats! Invite your roommate or friend to join you, turn on the Christmas tunes, and get ready to spread some holly jolly cheer to all your friends and neighbors. People love receiving homemade goodies around the Christmas season, and this is a great tradition to carry out into the Octave of Christmas—the eight days following Christmas Day.

3. Volunteer.

Many soup kitchens and warming shelters look for extra volunteers around the holiday season, especially on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years’. Spread the joy and love of Jesus Christ by giving of your very self to those who have so little. Your freedom of time as a single can truly be a gift to others this season! And serving Christ in the poor does wonders for your own life.

4. Gift generously.

Tired of watching your best friend agonize over the perfect gift to get her boyfriend’s family? Do your newly engaged sister and her fiancée exchange a hundred presents in front of everyone at your family’s Christmas party? You don’t have to be left out of the gift giving this season! Spend some extra time preparing meaningful gifts for those closest to you: your godchild, your overstressed boss, your priest (who probably often gets forgotten), your mother, or anyone else who could use a little extra love. It doesn’t have to break the bank, sometimes the best gifts are the ones that are homemade and tailor-made. And remember, it is in giving that we receive!

5. Serve.

Look for ways to lend an extra helping hand this year. At your extended family’s Christmas extravaganza, offer to do the dishes, stay later to clean up, or bring a couple side dishes. After shoveling your driveway from last night’s snowstorm, walk over to your elderly neighbor’s and shovel theirs too. The gift of service to others is a reflection of Jesus and the very mission He came to Earth to fulfill.

6. Pray.

It’s completely understandable if you feel a bit lonely during this time. Seeing those around you spending one of the coziest seasons with someone they love feels much harder when you’re spending another year single. It’s okay to acknowledge the struggle; after all, God did not make man to be alone. But don’t stay there. Spend more time in prayer, sharing your heart with the One who knows it best.

While you hopefully spent Advent deepening your prayer life and preparing for Jesus’ coming at Christmas, the Christmas season is rich with spiritual depth, too! Try and attend daily Mass throughout the Christmas Octave, don’t forget to celebrate the bigger feasts of Mary Mother of God (January 1^st) and Epiphany (January 6^th), and visit Jesus in the chapel as much as you can. Only the Light of the World can truly give new life to that loneliness you’re feeling.

7. Send greetings.

You know the Christmas card mailing list your mom keeps? That isn’t just a tradition for people with families. Sending and receiving Christmas cards to friends and loved ones is one of the best parts about the Christmas season! And though it has become much more popular in the digital age, you don’t have to send a customized card with a festive picture of you to fit into the Christmas card trend. Some of the best cards we receive are beautiful greeting cards with Nativity scenes or other holy images.

The tradition of sending Christmas cards is truly a tradition in spreading the joy and message of Jesus’ birth. Write a personal note, include on your mailing list friends and family whom you haven’t reached out to in a while, and even stick in a personal update if you’d like. Who couldn’t use a little more human connection after the year we’ve had?

And there you have it, everyone! Seven ideas to make your Christmas season a little more merry and bright. Take heart, and be of good cheer!