Single Adults and the Holidays
by Richard H. Gentzler, Jr.

Holidays are often tough times for single adults. Thanksgiving and Christmas are thought of as "family days," and New Year's Eve is often a time for "lovers." Many divorced, widowed, or never-married singles feel especially lonely without family members to help celebrate the holidays. Single-adult ministries often plan meals or group activities to bring people together during these special, yet difficult, times. Although helpful, big group activities aren't the only cure for holiday depression. As a leader of adult ministries, you may wish to provide information that helps your single adults beat the holiday blues.

Here is a list of ten things you could suggest to your singles:

1. Visit someone else who may be alone for the holidays. Take a special dish for dinner and join a church friend, co-worker, or neighbor who is also spending the holiday alone.
2. Invite others to your home for the holidays. Open your home to others who may be spending the holiday alone. Prepare a meal or, better yet, invite guests to bring something special.
3. Volunteer at a local hospital or nursing home. Many people in hospitals and nursing homes may be spending the holidays alone. Visit with patients and residents. Provide volunteer caregiving by transporting people to their rooms, feeding people who are unable to feed themselves, or reading to the blind.
4. Provide respite care for a primary caregiver. Spend a few hours with someone who needs care — thus providing respite for the primary caregiver. By doing this, the primary caregiver will have an opportunity to relax, shop, and take care of personal needs.
5. Serve a Thanksgiving or Christmas Day meal to people in a homeless shelter. Help prepare and serve dinner to people who have no home. Read to the children in the shelters and hold hands with the lonely and confused.
6. Visit people who are in prison. Lead a Bible study and share a smile with people who are incarcerated.
7. Spend time with an older relative who is alone. You may need to drive a slight distance, but spend time with an older aunt, uncle, or cousin who is alone during the holiday.
8. Provide a special service for an older neighbor. Cook a meal, perform minor home maintenance and repair, do laundry, change a light bulb, do whatever needs to be done for an older neighbor who is spending the holiday alone.
9. Lead a special holiday prayer service. In the social room of a housing or apartment complex, invite residents and guests to participate in a holiday worship time. Share holiday snacks and cookies with all the participants.
10. Spend the day alone. Perhaps being alone isn't a problem for you, but the need to slow down is. Spend the holidays alone — with you and God. Read a book that inspires and encourages you in your faith.

Richard H. Gentzler, Jr., (rgentzler@gbod.org) is the Director of the Center on Aging and Older-Adult Ministries, the General Board of Discipleship.

Originally posted November 1998

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