Christmas In NYC: The Time You Never Have

My family doesn’t give a shit about holidays. Not because they’re Jehovah’s Witnesses or something, but more because they just don’t see what the big deal is and have no real emotional attachment to them. Why go through the motions of pretending to be nice to each other one one day of the year? Shouldn’t you be doing that all year? All kidding aside, as a consequence of national holidays not being a big thing in my family, I have no real nostalgic attachment, and in fact sometimes actively dislike the Christmas season. I’ll spare you the tediously standard griping about why Christmas is obnoxious, and instead share with you what you COULD be doing whether you don’t give a shit like me, are too poor to fly back home, or just need time to check out of being social.

Here are some things you could be doing while you’re home in NYC instead of having a standard Christmas with your family:

1.Catch up on media

You know all those shows/ movies/books/music/blogs you’ve been meaning to see/read/listen to? Now’s your chance to finally catch up. You’re being totally self indulgent without really ever having to leave your house. It’s freezing, snowing, and everything is closed. Why would you ever want to leave anyway? By the time your Christmas break is over, you’ll have a regular diff’rent strokes of watercooler conversations in your pocket.

2. Get invited to your friend’s local Christmas and get the best of both worlds

If you’re really just sad to miss Christmas with your family, go with a friend to theirs in NYC. Think about it: you won’t have to travel very far, you won’t have to deal with the constant judgments and lunacy of your own family, and you’ll still be eating mad good food and wearing stupid sweaters.

3. Start a new project

Now’s the time to write that novel, start training for that marathon, making those spreadsheets about god knows what, photoshopping your face on to Taylor Swift’s head in photos with Jake Gyllenhaal, or making god’s eyes out of popsicle sticks. Whatever boring or wacko thing you like to do, this is the time you say you never have enough of to do it.

4.Catch up on or start your freelance career

Ever think about doing freelance work  to make extra/more money/not have to suck dick for quarters at the bus station? Well, you can look into it! See what’s out there for your skill set.

5. Get a new job

If looking at freelance opportunities doesn’t cut it, why not work on your resume and look at what’s out there for a more permanent career shift? Obviously it’s not an ideal time economically city and nation-wide, but if you just can’t take another day at your crappy job that you took out of desperation anyway, it certainly doesn’t hurt to look, or to gt yourself ready to make your next move. Worst comes to worst, maybe no one you know will have any jobs ever again and we’ll all live on the moon. Who the fuck knows? So you might as well just sack up and do something more interesting.

Photos courtesy of: buzzfeed, socialit’s life, and dihasstories.com