I used to be a bit of a Grinch around the holidays. My family of origin story is not the best – and in fact, this season used to give me panic attacks.

Luckily, I’m well past those days, and part of the reason is I began spending the holidays with friends! For a long time, I tried to be subtle about my lack of holiday plans, casually asking friends what they were doing, seeing if they’d invite me.

But once I was finally HONEST about my situation – saying something along the lines of, “I don’t want to go home for the holidays. Can I go with you instead?” – it completely changed the holidays for me.

This is typically a family-forward season, which is great, but you probably have other people in your life who you’d like to make memories with during the holidays. So, for today’s episode, I’ve compiled a list of tips for how to make time with friends this time of year.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• Five ways to connect with your friends this holiday season
• Ways to “opt out” of the things you’re not interested in or would feel burdened by  
• How traditions can actually save time and help you feel like you belong
• Three different formats to create a tradition (pick it all, pick a date, create a series)
• Doing “the necessary” to-do list items with friends (for example, holiday shopping, wrapping presents) instead of going at it alone
• How to make sure you or your friends have a place to go for the holidays 

Resources & Links

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Want to take this conversation a step further? Send this episode to a friend. Tell them you found it interesting and use what we just talked about as a conversation starter the next time you and your friend hang out!