The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

'Tis the season to be lonely

Holidays can be the loneliest time of the year.

If you aren't in a relationship, Christmas and New Year's are not the happiest times. Everything related to the holidays requires two people.

For example, when a group of people go door to door singing you know they're Christmas caroling. But when one person walks around singing you look for their coffee mug nearby to deposit loose change.

Even putting up the tree can be difficult. It just can't be done alone. If you're not in a relationship, who's going to steady the ladder while you put the star on top? Of course, you could have a friend help, but it's just not the same.

And you just can't make snow angels by yourself. Not at this age anyway. Children can plop in the freshly fallen snow at a moment's notice and flail about; people would just believe they're beaming with the majesty of the Christmas. But if someone my age jumps in the snow in an attempt to not let the fact that he or she is single ruin the holidays, people will think the person is having a seizure, or is a recent mental hospital escapee. And don't get me started with New Year's Eve. If you're not in a relationship and all of your friends are, you get stuck watching them lockjaw with their significant others at midnight.

Sounds fun, right?

I'm not saying single holidays will be completely boring. Lots of interesting stuff could happen. For instance, while you're at the company party, your boss could drink too much eggnog accidentally spiked with rum and tell you a load of embarrassing personal stories starting with, "I knew I shouldn't have taken them back to my hotel room but..." Or you could fall on a patch of ice outside of the dry cleaners and wind up in the hospital with internal bleeding only to be waited on by the cutest nurse this side of the Mississippi. Holidays are fun, but they're so family oriented - which isn't a bad thing if you have a family. Good friends can always fill the void if your parents decide to celebrate their holidays in sunny Jamaica instead of with you. But no matter how good your friends are, if they are in a relationship they're going to want some alone time with their "other." And for all the people out there who enjoy imposing on their friends while they try to make holiday memories in front of the fireplace, STOP! Leave your friends some time to themselves. The awkwardness is there for a reason; they want you to leave so they can kiss.

This year I'm in a great relationship but there was a year in there somewhere (let me pretend it was only one) where the ball dropping on New Year's Eve left me just staring at my date wondering if this busta was actually going to try to kiss me. Single friends pairing together or blind dating on holidays can often be worse than being alone. If you're by yourself at least you don't have to explain who "that guy" is after all of your friends get their New Year's pictures developed.

I just wanted to remind all of the single people out there that it's crunch time. Only 15 more shopping days to find a significant other. And you'd better be in a competitive mood because they're flying off the shelves like "Tickle Me Elmo." The good ones are worth the hassle, but buyers beware, because some can be more than you expected. These hassles (girlfriends/boyfriends) need to be immediately shipped back to the manufacturer (their mothers) because it might just be better to risk people thinking you're crazy while you roll around in the snow by yourself.

Shanita is a junior in journalism. If I May appears every Friday. These views do not necessarily reflect those of the DAILY EGYPTIAN.

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