OK, this one catches me out every year lol. The weather starts to get colder, and almost before I've got my winter coat dusted off someone will ask me what I'm doing for Christmas - and I'm always totally unprepared for it and have to mumble some vague pathetic excuse about not having any definite plans yet, I'll have to talk to a couple of other friends first, etc etc.

There must be other people on this site who get bad memories coming back around Christmas and don't really feel up to socialising, how do the rest of you deal with it and what would you do over the holiday if you had complete freedom of choice?

I had quite a good time last year, I struck a compromise with my friends and saw them in the evening, but for the day I managed to get a blissful solitary walk by myself to an ancient sacred site in the middle of nowhere, and had my lunch sitting on top of a hill :)

I've noticed that if you're a single woman, saying you want to be by yourself at Christmas is almost as bad as admitting you skin dalmation puppies to make a coat with - at least it feels that way from other peoples' reaction! But I am actually much better off that way, it's better than sharing my bad mood with other people and the physical exercise makes me feel much happier and more social by the evening. Anyone else's thoughts?