We do usually "meet" here on the holidays. The people who are alone console those who "have to" visit family and vice versa! We may be alone but it seems less lonely, with each other, than it would have been with the crazy er I mean the relatives! Less indigestion too Plus you dont have to go all out, but I've learned how nice it is to do a little something special for myself. It's not something I usually do, and it's not how I was raised, to treat myself nicely. A bribe to distract you is not really the same thing?