Alone At Christmas Holidays || LOH 165

Merry Christmas, lovely ladies! It's that wonderful season of love, giving and celebrating again. I love this time of the year and always look forward to it with excitement. But can an individual celebrate or live through this holiday season of merrymaking, parties, shiny decorations and joy alone? @ifarmgirl's question posed on the Ladies Of Hive Community #165 brought back memories of that one time!

Would you accept an all-expenses paid trip to another country but it means spending the holiday alone? Why or why not?

At the heart of the Christmas season is family and togetherness. It's almost like a tradition in my country for people to have travel plans in place before December. And as the holidays draw close, the roads and airlines are jammed with people travelling. This forms part of the excitement of the season. There's this mutual feeling of knowing you have a home and people waiting to see you.

All my life, I've always spent the Christmas holidays with my family. Merrymaking is most enjoyable when it's done with loved ones and that's what makes Christmas beautiful. Every December I look forward with much excitement to seeing my family, catching up on news, and doing stuff together like we did when I was a child. It's such fun!

Then for the first time ever, in 2016, work commitments prevented me from visiting my family home for Christmas and my travel plans fell through. I was so sure my work schedule for that month would allow me some days off for the holidays and I would travel back immediately after and resume work. By the 23rd, it became clear I would not be with my family for the holidays. I was so sad that nothing could cheer me up.

Some of my colleagues who are native of the state where I work came up with plans for me to spend the holidays with them. They said things like, "It's not a good thing to be alone during the holidays". I disagreed with them but still celebrated with them and had some fun that year.

So like this week's LOH question asks, I see nothing wrong with spending the holidays alone, on an all-expenses paid trip to another country. My reasons being I love to travel and an opportunity to visit another country (it better be a cool place, hehe) must not be wasted. Travelling is a form of education that everyone should embrace. It allows for a broad and open-minded perspective to life and people.

What's more, the expenses are all paid! Woohoo. Meaning I could go to the Maldives or a fine island in Seychelles or Switzerland, laze around on a beach if it's summer in that country or experience snow and a winter wonderland (we don't have snow in my country) if it's winter season. I could go shopping, meet new people, get to know their culture and lifestyle. Yes, I would miss my family but I would have some alone time which I'm craving for desperately at the moment (sighs).

Such a trip would also afford me the opportunity of reflection and relaxation, time to process my thoughts and achievements for the year and also work out my goals for the new year ahead.

Not everyone likes to be alone but it's a state I would recommend for every adult from time to time. In 2016, I did spend time with friends, but I had some alone time that helped me process a crucial decision I had to make at that time. If I was with my family for the holidays, I would have been too busy to calm down and think the decision through. At the end of the holiday, I was glad that it was well spent!

Moreover, there will always be more Christmases with my family so being away from them for that one time won't bad at all. So I've spent a holiday away from my family and though it didn't feel the same, everything turned out okay.

Let me know in the comments if you feel the same as I do about an alone Christmas holiday or not! Hehe.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

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