As an only child from a toxic family. I used to go home and stay with family and it always went poorly (may parents divorced when I was young so someone always felt shorted). Later I started staying with a friend that lived in my home town. What my parents discovered, in my case, was that I spent more quality time with both of them (because I had a safe place to go to every night). I brought my son home with me one year so stayed with my mother (friends home was not child friendly as they were older). It was a disaster for everyone except my son.

Now, the flip side... my son was an only child. My husband will be working the holidays which is always hard for me. My son has a strong negative reaction to me (I adopted him at age 8 and he struggles with it). He could handle a day or two here without it being toxic to him but he would be happier where he is. I opened my home to my son when he had no family to turn to. I raised him as my own for 12 years and gave him everything I could. I wasn’t a perfect parent but I was never neglectful or abusive. For what ever reason at this point in his life I am toxic to him. Sucks to be alone but I would rather he stay where he is and be happy/healthy than to fill my need to have someone here for the holiday.